


ETERNAL

by Kimagi



Category: C-Pop, EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Cute, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Forbidden Love, Human/Vampire Relationship, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Slow Romance, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-01-18 11:49:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 54,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21275945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimagi/pseuds/Kimagi
Summary: Park Yoongi was an enthusiast daydreamer and a hopeless romantic that yearned to see the world but she never thought a guy without any aspirations could make her wildest dreams come true and turn her world upside down.
Relationships: Zhang Yi Xing | Lay/Original Character(s), Zhang Yi Xing | Lay/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 7





	1. Foreigner

One more click and Park Yoongi would be done for the day. One more click on the send button and she could leave the noisy office that was her supposedly perfect job.

  
She was somehow living just slightly ahead of the curve and that made her feel proud of herself. She wasn’t living with her parents anymore, she paid for her bills on time and still had money left to spend it on whatever she wanted and most importantly, she was working on her dream job.

Well, sort of, because spending the last two hours of her evening, proofreading a long and boring article about how to get rid of crow’s feet and that had way too many grammatical mistakes for her liking, wasn’t what she could call a dream job but she needed to make the boss’s niece look good to the editor, especially if her stay at the small publishing house, depended on that. She wasn’t allowed to complain.

  
Park Yoongi wanted to be a writer. She wanted to write novels that could inspire and touch her readers' hearts and that ambition suited her; because if anyone could say anything about Park Yoongi, it was that she was a daydreamer and a hopeless romantic. She had it within herself to convey emotions as she created beautiful worlds, countless and inspiring characters that lived through her fascinating stories and that could even grasp the attention of the most skeptics. Sadly, the aspirant writer had a stomach to feed and bills to pay.

She was determined to follow her dream and when college was over, she was one of the few lucky ones that as soon as she got the papers that proved she earned a major in Modern Languages, managed to land a job that far from being her ideal job, it was the beginning of her career as a writer.

She always tried to see the best out of every scenario even when some days were harder than others like that particular one in the shape of Sun Bomi, the boss’s niece and the self-proclaimed chief at the small editing department. She just arrived from her five weeks long vacation trip to Europe with her dashing model-like boyfriend and the poor proofreader was getting sick of it.

_Europe this_ and _in Europe that_ was all Yoongi heard all day despite how much she tried to mute the girl’s rambles out of her head. She wasn’t the type of getting jealous easily but she also wanted to travel around the world just like Bomi did more regularly than was believable and having that fact rubbed in her face every minute wasn’t easy to ignore.

Because, while she lived in a world where traveling was the equivalent of bravery, sense of adventure and knowledge; Yoongi had to comfort herself thinking that not everyone in the world had the chance to simply take off. It didn’t mean she wasn’t brave enough, it just happened that she couldn’t simply afford it but that never stop her co-workers to show their unfunded pity for her.

Trying her best to ignore the growing feeling of her lack of accomplishment pollute her mood, she sent the revised article to the editor, hastily ordered her desk and left the building as fast as she could, ignoring whatever was happening around her and soon, she was walking on the sidewalk, passing by the bus stop she usually waited on. She paused for a second, unsure of what to do but that particular day, she felt like walking off her discomfort so she just kept walking.

Yoongi plugged her earphones on her phone, turned the volume up and thought on every road trip her father took her to the countryside of her hometown, Suncheon. She had amazing memories of every trip with her family and she wouldn’t change any of those moments for anything in the world but still, she always felt like she was missing something big and marvelous.

Big and maybe not marvelous but striking, were the perfect words she would use to describe the gigantic billboard that caught her attention in the middle of her way home.

**Big King Slush**

It was somehow silly how Yoongi was suddenly standing in front of a soda-fountain style store she’d never seen before and by the look of their advertisement, sell huge overly processed fruit drinks and not for an affordable price.

Yoongi came into the store, read the menu that was just as big and flashy as the billboard on the street and found herself weirdly hypnotized by the bright and colorful iced drinks spinning on the machines. She would never know how she was suddenly considering the idea of getting one for Bomi because if there was something her so-called boss cared a lot more than her trips around the globe and even her impossibly handsome boyfriend; it was her perfect hair and impeccable makeup. Pouring a bucket of ice-cold and excessively sugared slush on Bomi’s head, felt beyond appealing.

“The bubblegum one, does it get your tongue blue?” She asked the teenage boy that was serving the drinks and that was also clearly too bored to give her at least a polite smile.

The boy nodded, still bored despite the big grin Yoongi displayed in excitement. She wasted no time to ask for a regular size but then, as she was already spending her own money on that, by all means, she better make it count so calling for the boy once again, Yoongi changed her order for the one on the billboard. A Big King Slush. A cup as big as her forearm and her plan, out of nowhere, seemed to make even more sense.

She left the place and her fingers tightly around the cup were getting too cold but she could see the picture in her head already. A squealing Bomi, her skin getting blueish, her hair sticky and herself feeling powerful and satisfied. Then, remorse hit her. She couldn’t do that without getting fired so she stopped dead in her tracks and contemplated the possibility of returning the drink because, at the end of the day, Yoongi was still a rookie at the publishing house and struggling to make herself a place there. Pouring a blue slush on the boss’s niece wasn’t exactly the most mature measure to make herself a name of a serious and promising writer.

Listening to the voice of reason ringing loudly in her head, she fumbled on her backpack, looking for the receipt and sadly, once the drink was out of the store, there were no refunds nor claims. Her money was now gone and she wanted to throw a tantrum right in the middle of the street but a box fell to the ground right into her way.

Taken out of her reverie, Yoongi rushed to pick the box that was as big as her backpack and struggling to take it without dropping the now stupid and expensive slush, she looked up to see the guy that dropped the box in the first place, precariously balancing another two big ones out of a van. She could only see his back as he carefully gave a tiny step over the hem of the curb without looking and she would’ve helped the guy without hesitation but she could recognize the pastel green shirt, pink shorts and white converse everywhere.

“Looks like you need a hand.” She said with a smile and the guy turned around, apparently forgetting he had the boxes in his arms and almost dropping them as well.

Once he recovered his balance and as soon as he finally recognized her, Yoongi saw the corners of his lips, that was naturally tugged upwards, spread into a proper and wide smile.

“What’s up with all the boxes?” She asked, noticing that he was sweating and there were still a couple of boxes left on the van.

“I’m helping a friend moving in.” He huffed.

“And where’s said friend?” She asked, giving a hand when he balanced on one leg and used the other to keep the boxes leveled as he tried to fish his keys out of his pocket.

“Sleeping.” He grunted, then smiling widely when he finally got the keys and a good grip on the boxes.

Yoongi looked at him with a judging stare because by the look of the now empty van she knew was filled to the top with boxes, adding to that, carrying them to whatever floor that friend lived in and even if the sun wasn’t broiling anymore; she could easily say that he was more than just helping. Jongdae was doing all the hard work by himself.

“He had to take an overnight flight here,” He explained with a sheepish smile and heading to the building’s entrance door. “He was exhausted, give him a break.”

Yoongi understood that and didn’t dare to say anything in response because if any of her friends were in the same situation, she’d be all mother hen mode to them too.

“You don’t like bubblegum slush by the way,” Jongdae interrupted her thoughts, peeking his head from around the side of the boxes. “Wrong, as a matter of fact, you don’t like any kind of slush.”

“I know that,” Yoongi said with a shrug, now her urge to make Bomi suffer, considerably gone.

“Then why are you holding a Big King Bubblegum Slush?” He asked, baffled and she couldn’t blame him by the gigantic cup she was holding.

“It’s not for me.” She explained with a shy smile but Jongdae had a playful smirk on his face.

“Is it for me then?” He asked, wiggling his brows in a somehow flirty gesture that made Yoongi want to hide. “How did you know bubblegum is my favorite?”

“It’s for Bomi.” She breathed out because if she ever considered giving something to Jongdae, it’d never be a nasty bubblegum slush.

“Who the hell is Bomi?” He wondered out loud.

“My boss,” Yoongi replied but she saw the confusion in his eyes, clearly lost.

The thing that frustrated her the most was that Jongdae was supposed to know who Bomi was because if she ever confided anything from her work to anyone, it was Jongdae and the boss’s niece was the main subject of all of her complaints. He was supposed to know who she was.

“My boss’s niece.” She retorted in annoyance at the lack of attention her supposedly best friend ever paid to her and even more when the recognition took over his expression.

“The pretty one!” He sang happily to Yoongi’s further annoyance. “So you’re in good terms with her now?”

She was suddenly too worked up to answer that because if she was expecting something from him, it wasn’t him acknowledging how pretty her nemesis was. Yoongi didn’t need that from her best friend because she already knew Bomi was pretty and she didn’t have to say that out loud because it was written all over her face.

“Woah! You were planning on throwing it at her.” Jongdae laughed, amused at the antics the aspiring writer could come up with.

“It would’ve shut her up for a while.” She mumbled.

Part of her was embarrassed about getting caught with her childish plan and the other, annoyed that he was having fun at her expense.

“Anyway, once you’re done with your revenge,” Jongdae said, still snickering and pushing the building’s gate with his back. “We’ll be having a small gathering at the bar next to The Hideout later tonight to welcome my friend, he’s from China.”

“You want me to come?” She asked, suddenly forgetting about her annoyance at the light of a night out with friends. “It sounds like you want me to come.”

Yoongi pushed the gate open when he couldn’t do it but instead of saying thanks or anything of that sort, Jongdae was chuckling in amusement.

“You look miserable and pitiful, so why not?” He snorted.

“I’m no charity case, Kim Jongdae.” She sneered, pulling the gate close and getting him stuck, with boxes and all, between the door and the door frame.

“Sorry, I didn’t get the memo, Park Yoongi!” He shot back with the same tone but managed to free himself without dropping the boxes. “Got to go and see you tonight!”

It didn’t matter how many times Jongdae made fun of her or how annoying his teasing could be because at the end of the day, he was the childhood friend that took care of her countless times whenever she needed a hand and after all, a night out was a night out and he didn’t tell her the time for the gathering, so pushing the door open before it was closed for good, she peeked her head inside the building’s lobby.

“What time!?” She asked out loud and still with a sulky tone in her voice but all she got from his disappearing figure on the staircase was his laugh. “You didn’t tell the time, you dufus!”

“10!” He shouted back and was completely gone into the building and out of her sight.

* * *

The rest of her evening was hectic because Yoongi was an expert in one thing and that was, not managing her time well. She knew that getting ready to see her friends at the bar was her immediate priority but she not only thought that stopping by to get some groceries for her lunch for the next day was more important but also got caught in the hassle of getting rid of the gigantic king-size slush that no one wanted and only managed to get her hand cramped with cold and her pants wet.

At the end, she ended up giving it to a couple of middle school girls that usually spend their evening playing volleyball in the small yard in the apartment complex she lived in and by the time Yoongi got the girls an extra plastic cup so they could share the now melted iced drink, she didn’t have much time left to get ready the way she wanted.

  
After a quick shower, she barely managed to blow her hair dry, change into a probably too casual choice of clothes, applied some eyeliner and lip gloss and she was rushing out of her apartment and pretty much running to the bus stop.

  
She was a bit late but it didn’t matter. Her friends would never nag her for something as simple as that and by the time she walked into the bar, they were all laughing and talking to each other. However, her eyes were unconsciously searching for the still unknown friend they were welcoming. She was looking at that face she wouldn’t recognize but apparently, he was also late, just like her but suddenly, everyone’s attention was on her and she froze for a second because she hadn’t even spoken yet and all of her friends were looking at her.

Yoongi felt it then. She didn’t see him coming in. She didn’t even hear him until he was practically next to her and looking at her as if he was looking at a small stray kitten on the sidewalk. He was handsome though. That was the only coherent thought in her mind when his dark eyes kept on staring at hers.

“You came!” Jongdae hollered.

For a second, there was no way for Yoongi to know if he was talking to her or the guy next to her but she smiled nonetheless.

“You asked me to come.” She pointed out and could tell he was already tipsy by the way he welcomed her with a hug.

“This is Zhang Yixing, newly unwrapped from China!” He said, waving a hand towards the guy that was still staring at her.

Even if the introduction sounded weird to Yoongi, she smiled at him too but now that she wasn’t taken by surprise by his sudden presence, she could see that there was nothing extraordinary about him, at least not at the first glance. He was handsome, there was no way to deny that but the vibe around him was so abnormally normal it was easy to overlook his gracious looks, especially if he was wearing a simple sweatshirt too big, it gave him sleeve paws and messy hair that fell adorably over his eyes, jeans and slip-on shoes. He was just another ordinary guy and she could hear Jongdae trying his best to hold back his laugh.

“Welcome to Seoul.” She greeted but the Chinese just blinked a few times, seemingly confused.

“This is my friend Yoongi.” Jongdae snickered, amused by something and letting her go only to lock an arm around Yixing’s neck, he dragged him away. “Hyung, I told you about her, remember?”

“Yeah, you did, but you never mentioned she was pretty…”

Jongdae’s whining didn’t let Yoongi know what else the newly arrived said about her but the small voice of reason deep in the back of her head convinced her that she heard it wrong and she was suddenly left on that spot stunned, speechless and without a chance to say anything else.

She saw her friend introducing the Chinese to all of his other friends at the other side of the table and being particularly daring to push the new guy to a couple of pretty girls that were a bit too flirty to her liking. That same whispering voice was now louder and telling her that she had to look away from the scene where Zhang Yixing was shyly smiling to a very, very pretty girl with a small and round face that was beautifully framed by long and lustrous black hair.

Luckily, an arm was suddenly tightly across her shoulders, successfully breaking the spell that gentle smile had on her and bringing her back to reality where she was in a bar with her friends so listening to the voice inside her head and getting herself being dragged to her seat, Yoongi greeted everyone gleefully.

Most of them were Jongdae’s friends but after so many drinking nights just like that one, they became her friends as well and she liked them all a lot. They weren’t like her co-workers and Yoongi loved that. When everyone at the office would be nosy about her nonexistent romantic life or pester her with pointless advice to improve her way of living, Jongdae’s friends were all about having a good time. They didn’t judge her, as a matter of fact, she was just another member of the pack, and as the youngest one, she was obviously, the dotted one among the group and she liked that even more.

Yoongi took her seat, laughing and with a glass of beer in her hand already as she simply started catching up with everybody because it was just that easy. She got along with all of them, except for one guy and his name was Jiho. He was Jongdae’s coworker at the hospital and had all the prospects of becoming a renewed neurologist but that only made the guy insufferable. If Bomi was air-headed annoying, Jiho was a presumptuous pain in the butt that couldn’t stop talking about his achievements and was always trying to overshadow everyone in the room but that particular night something went differently.

The guys were oddly silent when Yixing showed up at their side of the table after a while and took a seat right in front of Yoongi. As the newly arrived, everyone’s attention was naturally focused on him and Jiho didn’t seem to like being taken out of the spotlight so easily.

“So, what you do for a living, Yixing?” He asked.

“Music.” That was all he said.

Everyone at the table looked at him, Yoongi included and waited for him to display his long and surely, an impressive list of achievements because that was a must whenever Jiho was around.

“I guess the business isn’t that good,” Jiho added with what could be considered an unapologetic chuckle when Yixing didn’t elaborate any further. “We would’ve been listening to your music on the radio otherwise.”

“I just don’t strive for stardom.” He replied with a shrug.

Yoongi saw the amusement in his eyes as he was smiling but it wasn’t the shy smile she saw on him before. Something was entertaining him when everyone else would have felt uncomfortable under the doctor’s scrutiny but not Zhang Yixing. He looked confident and the self-sufficiency his entire posture suddenly exuded, managed to disconcert Jiho enough to shut him up for a second.

“Well, that’s a bit mediocre, don’t you think?” The doctor snorted but it was obvious by the tone of his voice, that he felt threatened.

“What can I say,” Yixing added with an easy tone that visibly irked Jiho a bit more. “I just want a peaceful life.”

Yoongi found herself, just like everyone else around the table, completely taken aback by the exchange between Yixing and Jiho but there was something weirdly appealing on that. Seeing someone so easily getting on the nerves of a guy as conceited as Jiho was downright attractive and she couldn’t take her eyes off him, wishing she could learn to be that way with Bomi too.

“To waste your only life being a nobody when you could do more.” Jiho suddenly grumbled at the Chinese guy that didn’t seem to be bothered by anything in the world.

“I’ve lived long enough to know what I want,” Yixing replied.

“To long-lasting lives!” Jongdae suddenly yelled with his glass of beer high up and successfully attracting all the attention to him. “To all of us find what we truly want in our future!”

Seemingly relieved from the tense and awkward atmosphere Jiho created, everyone raised their glasses and bottles high and toasted along with Jongdae. Everyone except for the newly arrived foreigner.

Yoongi wasn’t entirely sure if it was a good thing that Yixing was seated in front of her because she had all of her senses weirdly drawn towards him and able to observe him. She saw the affectionate glances he gave to Jongdae whenever he was saying something rather stupid and how it looked like he wasn’t planning on getting wasted like the others by the small sips he took of his beer every once in a while. Some mannerisms kept her curious through the night and whenever he caught her staring, he’d just smile softly at her.

What Yoongi gathered was that Zhang Yixing was a silent person and despite the few odd remarks he said here and there, he was a pleasant company nonetheless. She couldn’t say otherwise when she noticed the undivided attention he gave her whenever she had something to say and the way his questions were always proving that he was listening and genuinely interested in what she was saying. Even when Jiho was making fun of her for asking for any volunteers to join her to watch the newest Twilight movie with her, it was Yixing the one that shut him up once again, saying that he would gladly go with her.

Yoongi felt fuzzy and excited and couldn’t help herself but ending up talking to Yixing only and eventually, the two of them were sitting side by side, ignoring all the other conversations around them and completely immersed in a discussion about something as simple as judging if Chinese desserts were better than the Korean ones. She’d never been in China before so she didn’t have a clue but he was making it easy for her to ask whatever she wanted to know. As simple as it was, Yixing was satisfying her curiosity, no matter how dumb her questions could be.

Zhang Yixing was charming, his smile was warm and welcoming, his laugh cute, his dimples adorable and his attention, flattering. So flattering that Yoongi was aware of the silly giggles that escaped from her whenever he came closer to whisper to her ear only because Jongdae was already drunk and singing loudly.

  
It was sickeningly cute how she was pouting when everyone was ready to leave and keep partying when it was well past midnight but she had a meeting early in the morning. She couldn’t join them despite how much she wanted to go and keep talking to Yixing. She had to be honest about that, that was the only reason why she wanted to go.

“We’re heading off to the karaoke, wanna come?” Jongdae said, stepping out of the bar and his words already slurred.

“I have to work tomorrow.” She replied, not strong enough to hide her disappointment.

“I’ll walk you home then.” Yixing offered.

“Since when you’re such a responsible adult.” Jongdae snickered, giving a few wobbly steps towards them and once again, Yoongi wasn’t sure to whom he was talking to.

  
It was expected, as drunk as Jongdae was, that he lost his balance and slung himself over Yixing, making the two of them stumble a little but the Chinese got a hold of his drunken friend before they ended up in the floor.

“Yah! Park Yoongi!” Jongdae whined loudly as he draped his arms possessively around Yixing. “Why are you so clingy!? Let Yixing go!”

Usually, Yoongi would’ve whined back at him and that would end up in a funny fight with him but now that Yixing was in the middle of it, she just smiled fondly at her friend that made every drinking night fun and memorable but apparently, she wasn’t the only one entertained. Yixing chuckle at his friend’s nonsensical whining too but what took Yoongi off guard was the way he was looking at her. He had Jongdae’s arm over his shoulders and supported him without any effort and he was also smiling at her with an adorable spark in his eyes. At that moment, Yoongi knew she had to deviate her attention from him.

“I’ll let him go if you promise me, you’ll go with me to watch Twilight.” She proposed to the drunk guy.

To her good luck, Yoongi wasn’t the drunk one holding unto Yixing. Actually, she wasn’t even close enough to had a hold of him but she said that anyway because Jongdae didn’t seem to realize he was the one holding onto the Chinese guy as he would hold onto any of his may previous girlfriends, but all that was beside the point.

“I already said I’ll go with you,” Yixing said but what caught her attention was the undeniable pout he was displaying.

It was a good thing that she wasn’t the one holding him. It was a really good thing that she wasn’t even close to him because that adorable pout was beyond tempting and the sudden direction her thoughts were taking, was completely out of her control.

“Yep, whatever, just let him go.” Jongdae agreed, completely unaware of how much Yoongi was struggling to keep her mind on the track of the conversation. “He’s the party boy!”

“Right, it’s your welcome gathering,” She beamed to Yixing, glad that she could focus her attention on something she could actually control and that was being responsible even if deep inside her, she wished she didn’t have to say that and that he would insist. “You should enjoy it. Thank you though.”

“Are you sure?” He asked but before she could say anything, Jongdae was already pulling him away.

“Have fun.” She said, stepping away from them too.

Yoongi knew she wasn’t dreaming. She was sure that the spark of disappointment in his eyes wasn’t an illusion just like the unexpected sadness she felt wasn’t just part of her imagination.

  
What happened next did feel like a dream because, in a blink of an eye, he was suddenly in front of her and so close that she could smell his scent of soap. He smelled just like how his fair skin looked like.

“I’m very much looking forward to seeing you again,” Yixing whispered with a beautiful and sweet smile that made her heart make a flip inside her chest.

  
She was sure she’d never felt her face so warm and hot from blushing before that his lips felt cold against her skin when he pecked her cheek and when he stepped away from her, he was smiling so sweetly that Yoongi felt herself swooning.

“Goodnight, Yoongi.” He whispered.

  
And that simple sentence left her all giddy for the rest of the night that she barely made it to the office on time the next morning. Bomi scolded her big time for that but Yoongi didn’t dwell on for too long because that day, she daydreamed again like she hadn’t done it a while and she felt a bit embarrassed it was all due to a simple, innocent and sweet kiss on the cheek…

  
…only to realize that she was also very much looking forward to seeing him again.


	2. Obsession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who would’ve thought that the mythical creatures of her favorite books could be real? Yoongi certainly couldn’t believe that.

It was just a couple of days later and Yoongi couldn’t stop thinking about Yixing and his cute dimples or his adorable smile. She could even see him whispering things to her ear again and blushed at the idea, right in the middle of a staff meeting. To say that she was distracted was an understatement but she had to do her best to focus the moment the editor of the small publishing house came into the open office of the editing department and everyone stopped what they were doing and paid attention without him needing to ask for it.

“As you all might know, this whole Twilight thing is a big hit right now,” The middle-aged man that had already grey hair, said with his usual serious tone and leaned himself against one the nearer desks which only meant it was going to be a short meeting. “of course, the boss wants us to capitalize on that so we need to make a full cover. I don’t really care what it is, we need to publish something.”

“Is our audience even interested in that?” Bomi was the one to break the silence.

Yoongi didn’t want to agree but despite how dumb Bomi could be sometimes, her observation had a point and she waited for the editor’s answer. 

“You are right but we’ll adapt something.” He said and look around the room expectantly. “Does anyone have an idea?”

“About sparkling vampires,” Bomi scoffed loudly and Yoongi felt herself shrinking in her seat. “Who likes that stuff?”

“I can write something,” Yoongi said, raising her hand, even if she was feeling like she wanted to hide in a hole in embarrassment but it was her golden chance. “I’ve read all the books already.”

“What you have in mind, Yoongi?” The editor asked and that gave her a bit of courage.

“If we’re not aiming for the teenage sector of our readers,” She started, getting a hold of the chance and taking the risk. “I can write about the correlation about the romanticized idea of vampires falling in love with humans against the folklore horror stories of the damned creatures, and how it has eventually changed through the years.”

“I like it,” The editor whispered to himself and after a second of thought, he was looking at her with a challenging stare that made her feel nervous. “You’ll write the main article.”

Yoongi felt her jaw-dropping and someone in the room gasped but she was too lost in her own surprise to figure it out who it was. She reminded herself to be a professional, close her mouth and regained her composure.

“So you like that idiotic Twilight nonsense?” Bomi asked across the room and Yoongi guessed it was her the one that gasped but was still too stunned about writing the main article to care about the obvious annoyance in her remark.

“I’m a big fan of the genre in general.” She explained.

“What else have you read about vampires?” The editor asked her and even if he still looked serious, there was a softer hint in his voice.

“Pretty much everything that’s out there,” Yoongi replied with a shrug, once again, taking a risk. “from Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, and even Guillermo del Toro, not to mention every movie, from the beautiful classics like Nosferatu to the Hollywood stuff like Blade and Underworld.”

“You have seen it all.” The editor said with a chuckle that was too uncharacteristic of him.

“As I said Sr, I really like the genre.” Yoongi found herself smiling shyly because if she could name one obsession of hers, it was vampires in any shape and size.

“You’ll be the lead on this month’s issue then.” The editor announced, making her almost choke in her own giggle.

“But he’s just the rookie,” Bomi whined loudly.

Yoongi looked at her, mildly offended by the way she addressed her as he, and even the editor was looking at the air-headed girl with confusion but the way Bomi ignored everyone and glared back at her, made her skin brisk.

“Sorry,  _ Yoongi _ ,” Bomi retorted in a false apology that made something deep in her chest, hurt. “it’s not my fault your parents gave you a boy’s name.”

“Enough, Bomi, let’s give her the chance to show what she’s got.” The editor said, the softness and lightness in his voice completely gone and stood up, ready to leave the room. “You just stick to write the ten steps of how to get your skin sparkly just like that Cullen boy.”

Without saying anything else, the editor urged everyone to start working and before he was out of the room, Yoongi started to hear her co-workers throwing ideas to the air in an improvised brainstorm that caught her off guard and let her forget about Bomi’s snarky comments.

Her mind was speeding since the announcement. The possibility of writing whatever she wanted and even more, writing about one of his long-time obsessions was making her insides jump in the excitement that for the first time in days, drew her attention away from the guy that kissed her cheek and swept her off the face of the earth.

If that wasn’t enough, Yoongi was almost jumping in happiness when the editor called her to his office and gave her tickets for the early press release of the movie so she could write a review for the month’s issue and suddenly, she had four free tickets for the movie she was so desperate to watch.

Despite the way Bomi intentionally bump into her on their way out of the office and called her ugly under her breath, Yoongi was still too excited to care about it. Her main concern, as she walked to the bus stop, was that she got the chance to see the newest movie of her favorite saga but so far no one wanted to join her.

She was sure Jongdae wouldn’t go no matter how much she begged him so she started to wonder if Yixing was still willing to go with her because, for all she knew, it could’ve been nothing but a drinking night flirt and an empty promise. It wouldn’t surprise her if, in the end, Yixing backed out but just that exact thought made her jump out of her seat on the bus and press the button, asking for her stop.

Yoongi had been so out of her mind that she forgot about the text she got from Jongdae early in the evening, asking her to see him at The Hideout, the coffee shop they usually hang out. She couldn’t be late for a coffee outing with Jongdae. He always was particularly bitchy whenever she got late so jumping off the bus as soon as it stopped, she ran to The Hideout that was just a couple of blocks away from the bus stop.

She patted her own back when she came in and there were no signs of Jongdae anywhere and took a seat at the table in the corner near the window and that was their predilect place to sit. Yoongi didn’t have a chance to catch her breath when Jongdae came in, with his white lab coat hanging over his arm and looking beyond miserable.

“You look terrible.” She pointed out when he slumped himself on the chair in front of her.

“I don’t want to get drunk ever again.” He said with a pout. “It’s been days and I still feel like crap.”

Yoongi was about to remind him that the possibility was unlikely to happen considering all the times he’d say exactly the same after a drinking night but a giggle distracted her and when she turned her head to where the sound came from, a scene that was so common inside The Hideout Cafe, was developing right in front of her eyes.

Baekhyun, a very obnoxiously loud barista, was flirting with a customer that came in before her. The girl, with short hair and particularly pretty, was giggling at some silliness the barista was telling her but it occurred to Yoongi, that that type of thing had never happened to her.

“Am I really that ugly that nobody’s willing to flirt with me?” She asked out of nowhere as she kept eavesdropping Baekhyun’s flirt show.

Almost as if he was listening, the barista grabbed his tray and walked back towards the counter, not before sending a playful wink to Yoongi.

“He just flirted with you.” Jongdae scoffed with a raised and judgemental brow.

“Baekhyun flirts to everything with a set of boobs.” She added.

“And without them too,” Jongdae mumbled.

He was suddenly lost in his thoughts but shook his head in a blink of an eye as if the memory was horrible and Yoongi wasn’t entirely excited that the only true ladies man she knew in her life just showed one small charm to her. Baekhyun didn’t count and that left her without a single experience on the flirting department and wondering if she was as ugly as Bomi just called her earlier that day.

“Wow! So I am really that ugly…” Yoongi said, now genuinely worried.

“You’re not ugly,” Jongdae said, his tone sympathetic and soft just like he always addressed her when she was feeling down.

“Do you think I’m pretty then?”

He was frozen for a moment and as soon as Yoongi realized what she just asked, she regretted it and by the way, his entire expression went from confusion to surprise and then to something she suspected was disgust; she knew she didn’t want to hear his answer.

“You’re like a sister to me.” He whispered as if the idea of him finding her pretty was beyond preposterous.

Maybe Jongdae, her childhood friend, wasn’t the best person to ask something of that matter but she wanted to know if she was at least pretty enough to catch a guy’s attention and that was when she remembered about him. She remembered the attention Yixing showed her and she felt hope lighting up in her chest and the giddiness his manners made her feel just a couple of night before.

“So, do you think your friend Yixing-”

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I’m going to say!” Yoongi protested when he simply interrupted her.

“Don’t even think about it,” Jongdae warned her with the usual big brother voice he so often used against her. “Yixing is out of the question for you.”

“Why?” She asked, confused yet sternly.

“If you ever planned on listen to me, let it be this; just stay away from him.”

“I get that but why?” She scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and feeling properly offended. “You need to give me a good reason, otherwise, I’ll just get more curious.”

“You aren’t his type.” He said, giving her a deadpan stare.

Somehow and for a reason, she couldn’t understand; the fact that Jongdae was so against the idea of Yixing finding her pretty, was breaking her heart but she would never let that show, especially not to him and she was suddenly mad.

“And you happen to know his type, right?” She retorted, wishing she would’ve just completely forgotten about the coffee outing that was only making her upset.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Jongdae replied, not sensing her anger. “Trust me, Yoongi, he will never be interested in you.”

She didn’t want to believe that because the way he acted around her was proving enough that he might be interested in her but Jongdae failed to see that because he was drunk that night and too busy flirting.

Thankfully, Baekhyun arrived at their table to ask for their orders and it gave her the chance to get a hold on her self control but the small bell at the coffee shop’s door rang and the person that came in, made her heart skip a beat and her anger disappear. She felt nervous all of a sudden when Yixing found her stare and smiled at her.

“I was walking around,” He said when he simply sat on the chair that was next to hers and with a contented smile that was making her feel things. “when I saw you from the street window and decided to come in.”

“But it’s still early.” Jongdae pointed out, looking out of the window.

“I was bored.” Yixing smiled at him but focused his attention back to her. “Yoongi, I’m glad I’m seeing you again so soon.”

There was no way she could be wrong about Yixing and she was very sober to know that she wasn’t hallucinating. Yoongi concluded that he must be interested in her and then, she felt scared about the possibility of someone as handsome as him, well, being interested in her for real.

“I have to go now, though.” She found herself saying and standing up, ready to leave out of the pure instinct to not make a fool of herself.

“Really? I was thinking, maybe we could keep on with our dinosaur discussion.” Yixing said with that pout that once again, it was too powerful for her to resist.

For a fraction of a second, Yoongi didn’t know what to do. She spent the last few days hoping to see him again and now that he was right in front of her with his eyes full of that same hope she felt, she was suddenly clueless.

She tried to find help on her friend but Jongdae was looking at her too, waiting for an explanation about whatever was happening and that brought her back to her senses. Just a few seconds before, she was annoyed because in Jongdae’s opinion, she wasn’t enough to catch Yixing’s attention but she was going to prove him wrong so she sat back on her chair, making the Chinese smile in a way that made his two dimples shows up.

“I thought you were leaving,” Jongdae said, with harsh eyes and cautious tone.

“I changed my mind,” Yoongi shrugged in spite and ready to show him that Yixing was interested in her. “I already ordered my coffee and a slice of cheesecake anyway.”

Before Jongdae could argue back, Yixing was already talking and capturing all of her attention to himself and himself only and leaving the doctor looking at their exchange back and forth. Yoongi noticed how taken aback her friend looked but she couldn’t blame him, they were talking, just like Yixing said, about dinosaurs but then, the discussion changed into another topic and then to another and so on.

The more they talked and closely as she was looking at him, the more she could see that Yixing had the charms of a star. He could easily rock the world, yet, there he was, talking about mooncakes as he added his own sound effects with his messy hair, ripped jeans and an oversized sweater.

“Were you serious when you said, you don’t strive for stardom?” Yoongi found herself asking.

“Being famous means giving up a lot of things I’m not willing to give up anymore.” He replied.

Yixing was serious and she noticed how his eyes were suddenly sad but he didn’t seem to be shy to show that aspect of him. Yoongi saw in awe how he chuckle, seemingly self-conscious that he might’ve shown too much.

“I know my limits, Yoongi, I can’t do more.” He tried to explain with that sad smile that urged her to hug him.

“You talk like an old man.” Yoongi pointed out to distract herself from his captivating eyes.

Yixing was laughing wholeheartedly at that and in a way that made Yoongi feel satisfied with herself but what she failed to notice, were the worried glances Jongdae gave her as if she was touching a delicate subject. If he was already put out by the entire interaction, what made his frown even worse was the way Yixing was looking at his friend with some sort of fascination he’d never seen before.

“By the way, I was wondering if we can go to the movies,” Yoongi asked to no one in particular.

“Depends, what movie and when?” Jongdae was the one that answered absently as he scrolled through his phone.

“Eclipse and tonight.” She said, hoping for the best.

“Nop. Never. Not happening.”

“Why not?” Yoongi whined at her friend that didn’t even dare to look at her when he refused her invitation so rudely. “I’ve got tickets for the press screening tonight and you even promised me you would.”

That finally took his attention away from his phone and he looked at Yoongi, panicked and then to Yixing still in panic and then back at Yoongi and it was obvious that he was lost and scared of the potential outcome of not been able to get himself out that.

“What nonsense is this!?” He almost yelled, bringing a couple of stares to their table. “When did I say that?!”

“You did.” Yixing nodded with an entertained smirk. “At the bar.”

“That doesn’t count, I was drunk!” Jongdae whined loudly and even if Yixing was apparently having too much fun with it, Yoongi wasn’t that amused.

“No one wants to go with me.” She added with an unintended pout.

“Of course not!” Jongdae scoffed. “Who would want to go to see that stupid movie?”

“I’ve said plenty times that I can go with you,” Yixing answered the question and just as she did before, he was pouting as well.

“Thanks,” Yoongi replied, trying to calm the butterflies swirling around inside her stomach. “but this butthead here promised me he would.”

“You’re the butthead.” Jongdae retorted.

“I want to go with you, Yoongi.” He insisted, both of them ignoring Jongdae’s words and the little voice of reason inside her head tried to convince her that she must have been hoping too much.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“Sure,” He replied with that sweet smile that was causing havoc inside her. “I really want to go.”

“If he goes, I want to go too.” Jongdae butted in with a frown and breaking the spell a certain smile had on her.

“Why?” Yoongi asked, looking at her friend, wondering why he suddenly wanted to join them.

“I want to see him ripping his eyes out.” He said with a sudden giggle that was curiously directed to Yixing.

“It can be that bad.” The Chinese said and at that, Jongdae cracked up as if there was no tomorrow.

There wasn’t much left to say so they left the coffee shop soon after that to the unplanned movie night and Yoongi started to wonder if the small gestures Yixing had with her were not part of her imagination just like the little voice always said because there was no way she was seeing things out of context.

Yoongi was scared of feeling too much but it was impossible not to feel, not just butterflies but pterodactyls fluttering in her stomach by the way he insisted on paying for her bill, despite the tantrum Jongdae threw at the place because the Chinese refused to pay for his or when his hand in her back lingered a little longer than necessary when he opened the door for her.

She was lost in her thoughts as they walked towards Jongdae’s car when she felt his presence closer, just like it happened when he kissed her and her entire body shivered in expectation.

“Yoongi,” He whispered and the way he said her name, made her smile. “do you have a boyfriend?”

And she was suddenly frozen.

“That eclipsed movie sounds like the kind of movie you would watch with a boyfriend.” He explained.

Yixing just said eclipsed movie and Yoongi wanted to squeal at how adorable that mistake was but she simply stared at him, not knowing what to say. It didn’t really matter because Jongdae was suddenly there, walking right between them and nudging Yixing, a bit too harsh in her opinion, away from her.

“Stop being weird and asking such things.” He muttered with a warning glare.

“Are you her boyfriend then?” The Chinese asked, not bothered by the tone of his friend.

Yixing blinked slowly, genuinely curious to know that but Jongdae and Yoongi looked at each other and just as if the idea of liking each other was plain gross, the two of them grimaced in disgust.

“Because unless you two are dating…”

“I’m single!” Yoongi interrupted him out loud and before everything between them could be ruined by a silly misunderstanding.

“Oh! That’s great.” Yixing said, displaying his charming smile.

“Get in the damn car now.” Jongdae butted in again, clearly annoyed and nudging her forward.

“Oh wow! You got a new car, let me drive, please!” Yoongi hopped excited towards the brand new car with flashing lights.

“Never, Yoongi, it isn’t the end of the world yet,” Jongdae said, earning a scolding punch on his arm.

“Is she really that bad of a driver?” Yixing asked and she was sure there was genuine curiosity in his eyes and she knew she was blushing. “She can't be that bad.”

“Yeah, you say that because you wouldn’t die,” Jongdae said under his breath.

He was still irritated but somehow managed to make Yixing snicker in what sounded like an inside joke Yoongi didn’t understand but she couldn’t ask about it because the Chinese was already opening the backseat’s door with a smile and everything inside her was flipping in delight at the gesture.

Yoongi jumped in and she wasn’t expecting Yixing to come right after her when she noticed that he was about to do that but before she could even scoot over to give him some space, Jongdae managed to grip the Chinese by the back of his sweater and pulled him away from the car.

“Don’t even think about it.” Yoongi heard her friend groan, closing the door right in her face and dragged Yixing to the other side of the car. “You’re going to the front with me.”

Now that Jongdae was satisfied with the seat arrangements and without any more incidents, they were on their way to the movie theatre when Yixing made the million-dollar question that was the equivalent of opening Pandora’s box.

“What’s this whole eclipsed movie all about, anyway?

It was a mistake. He really shouldn’t have asked about it because in a matter of seconds, Yoongi and Jongdae, focused themselves to explain to him the entire plot of the first two movies. They were talking over each other, especially Jongdae that despite how adamant he was to show his hatred towards the movie, was distracting himself from his driving as he tried to explain how vampires sparkled when they were exposed to sunlight and by the time they got to the movie theater half an hour later, Yixing looked beyond terrified.

“How did you say you got these tickets?” Jongdae asked, slightly confused to see mostly grownups and seemingly mature people waiting to see the movie.

“Press tickets,” Yoongi corrected him with a proud smile. “The editor gave them to me because we’re doing the entire month’s issue focus on this and he wanted me to write a review.

He looked at her with a questioning look and it took Yoongi a lot of effort to not get bothered by it.

“What can I say? Twilight is the big hit right now.” She breathed out and reminding herself to enjoy the night.

“I get that but you’re just a proofreader.”

“Actually, I’ll be the editor in chief for this issue,” Yoongi announced with all the pride she could gather. “so you should be congratulating me for that.”

“For your obsession with vampires finally paying off in the real world?” Jongdae snickered however, she noticed the genuine pride in his eyes. “good for you, kid.”

“You like vampires?” Yixing asked more to himself and finally taken out of his daze.

Yoongi couldn’t properly explain that more than liking vampires, she had a fixation with the mysticism around them because Jongdae was suddenly dragging her to the snack bar and asking her cutely to buy him a bubblegum slush.

After getting big buckets of popcorn, cups filled to the top with bubble gum slush and diet cola, the trio got their seats at the darkened room and Yoongi was glad that Jongdae didn’t insist on him being in the middle so she was the one with her friend at her left and the handsome Chinese at her right and she wasn’t going to complaining.

The lights finally went completely off a couple of minutes later, inciting excited noises from the people around them when the title came in and Yoongi couldn’t help herself but squeal when Edward Cullen finally showed up. She was trying her best to keep her hands steady because if she could say something about the mushiness on the scenes, as lame as they could be, it was that they always got her squealing and even if she could hear Jongdae complaining by her side already, she just ignored him.

As time went by and the fairly needy and slutty comments they heard here and there whenever Jacob took his shirt off or when Edward smiled, was totally alright with her, she was used to that but not Yixing. He was strangely quiet next to her and Yoongi was getting worried because dealing with Jongdae, who couldn’t just shut up for good was one thing she’d already dealt with before, but feeling incredibly self-conscious of the seriousness Yixing was emanating was a whole different thing. Whenever she had a quick glance at him, he seemed to be frozen in the same position and his expression was severe.

Yoongi didn’t want to nag herself for bringing him to a place where he wasn’t having a good time but it was happening. Yixing wasn’t showing any kind of response through the movie and she felt guilty about it. She couldn’t even focus on analyzing the movie, not that it had much to analyze but she was distracted by the Chinese’s obvious discomfort.

The voice of her ever responsible reason was convincing her to remain professional because at the end of the day, whether it was a good movie or not, she had work to do and that was to watch that movie, so she did just that. Yoongi focused herself on what was happening on the screen and it didn’t take that long for her to be completely immersed in it, remembering why it was one of her favorite sagas and why Edward Cullen could bring the deepest sighs out of her.

Sooner than later, the ending credits scrolled through the screen and Yoongi squealed once again just like everyone else. It wasn’t necessary to say that Jongdae was complaining about whatever bothered him about the plot but she just went along with it because it was always like that, while Yixing simple walked behind them in complete silence.

Yoongi was too excited to notice the awkwardness in the air and how Jongdae just went quiet as they walked towards the car. She couldn’t hold her smile and hopelessly sighing in the hopes of finding a guy just a devoted as Edward and not shy enough to spare the guys off her intense rambling. Because as silly as most people thought about the whole story in general, it was what Yoongi needed to forget, at least for a moment, that her romantic life was as bad and fake as the CGI werewolves on the screen.

“They’ll get married in the next movie!” She squealed, unable to hold herself. “I’m dying to see the honeymoon!”

“Yoongi, shut up,” Jongdae said and he sounded genuinely serious.

“Oh come on, you are so waiting for the next movie too, stop pretending that you don’t like them.” She snickered at him. “I bet you want to get yourself a Bella just like I want my own Edward.”

“For the love of god just stop talking about it,” Jongade said with a low and warning tone that made her stop for a moment.

“You’re jealous because a fictional character gets more girls than you do.” She shot back with the same tone.

Yoongi felt annoyed that her friend could tease her endlessly but couldn’t handle the teasing that well. In her opinion, it wasn’t fair that she had to deal with that without complaining and was too busy bickering with Jongdae about it that she didn’t notice the scowl on the Chinese guy.

“I don’t blame you though,” Yoongi breathed out with a hopeful smile, daydreaming about the fictional vampire and with all the intention to get back at her friend. “Edward Cullen is the epitome of perfection.”

She heard the animalistic growl right next to her but it was too foreign to be real and everything that happened after that was blurry in her mind. Yixing, that had been oddly silent since they got to the place was finally reacting. He passed right by her, his shoulder hitting hers and making her stumble but he didn’t show any sign of remorse nor the intention of apologizing and if that wasn’t weird enough already, he was mumbling something in his native language. Yoongi didn’t need to speak Chinese to realize, by the tone of his voice, that it wasn’t something nice.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you!?” She demanded, shocked that for the first time, he was showing such a rude attitude to her without a reason

“Apparently everything because that sparkly guy is perfect.” He grumbled, taking Yoongi aback.

“Well, he is.” She replied, still confused by his reaction but he rolled his eyes in annoyance and that only made her even more upset. “He is a gentleman, super romantic and incredibly handsome not to mention that-”

“That he sparkles.” Yixing retorted, shoving his hands into his pockets. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Well, at least it’s a nice argument to make them go out in the streets in the day time and have an actual life.” She defended.

Yoongi wasn’t going to let Yixing trash her favorite fictional character just because he was too close-minded but by the harsh way he was staring at her, she knew he was taking this whole deal too personally which was even more ridiculous than believing there was a guy out there for her as perfect as Edward and she wasn’t planning on letting the two guys ruin her good mood and hope so she just brushed off their annoyance and ignored them.

“You just wait for the next movie,” She added, smiling again. “they’ll get married and do the do and she’ll get pregnant and-”

“Vampires can’t procreate.” Yixing interrupted her, rooted in the same spot and his entire body completely stiff in what she thought was anger.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Anne Rice says they’re frozen in their bodies like statutes and Guillermo del Toro wrote that their genitals fall off during the transformation.” Yoongi commented lightly.

She had to agree with him on that but Jongdae made a sound that attracted her attention and she realized then that he looked just as upset as Yixing and that was starting to bother her.

“In Twilight, they can have kids and I like that,” Yoongi defended her point. “it makes them more human.”

“More human!” Yixing finally snapped. “Are you kidding me? Nothing can make us more human!”

“Us?” Yoongi found herself chuckling even if his burst did manage to intimidate her a little.

“Yes! We!” He snarled and she saw how the gentleness in his eyes that had always been there, was gone. “We can’t get back to be humans, we don’t sparkle and trust me, we can’t get a woman pregnant.”

“Don’t talk to me like you’re an expert.” She answered back, something in the back of her mind fighting the heaviness she was feeling in her heart.

“I am.”

“You don’t even know the correct name of the movie!” She was the one to snap then.

“Oh but I know everything about this, first hand,” Yixing said in with a calm tone that gave her shivers.

Yoongi felt the urgency in his voice and the warning in his eyes. He didn’t seem to be angry anymore but there was something off in the way he was looking at her and for a split second, he wasn’t the adorable Chinese guy that was so easy to talk to. If her own anger could mute the voice of reason at her head, right at that moment, it was ringing loudly and telling her to simply walk away but her pride was bigger.

“Really? How did you learn everything first hand?” She asked, mocking his words and crossing her arms over her chest. “Did you enroll in a supernatural university and took Vampire 101?”

Yoongi heard Jongdae calling for her and noticed the worry in his voice but she wasn’t afraid of what Yixing could say to her. She was ready but never expected him to laugh. It wasn’t his adorable giggles though and distracted by the now loud warning in her mind, she didn’t saw him getting nearer, towering over her and his scent wasn’t the clean soap-like smell she remembered. 

“Oh no, Yoongi, I had to learn the hard way…” He whispered with a smirk that froze her blood.“…because I am one.”

“Right, you’re a vampire,” Yoongi said, trying to sound relaxed but that was far from how she was feeling with his sudden proximity.

Yixing didn’t move. He just stayed in that same spot in front of her, staring down at her with his hypnotizing eyes that never had been that dark before.

“But vampires don’t exist.” She said softly and her voice came out weak and more affected that she wanted.

It felt as if saying that out loud made the entire universe show her how wrong she could be. She saw the danger and the thirst in his eyes. She felt the cold of his skin even if he wasn’t touching her. She felt her entire body wanting to run away but being completely captivated by him and caught up in a charm she didn’t know how to free herself from. 

It was Jongdae’s voice full of warning, saying his name what seemed to break the spell the Chinese had on her. Yoongi stepped back, obeying the voice in her head but that triggered something on Yixing, making him react faster that she thought it was possible. He was closing the gap she was trying to put between them and when Jongdae spoke again, the guy hissed. 

She gasped but he was gone in a blink of an eye, walking all by himself towards the car and leaving her behind, completely frozen in her spot. Yoongi was sure of what she saw, she could bet her life that he just showed her a set of sharp and menacing fangs.

“You just had to keep talking.” Jongdae nagged.

Suddenly, he was pulling her by the arm but she was too stunned to react and maybe too scared to say something.

“Is he really a vampire?” Yoongi asked in a whisper when a car pulled over right in front of her but her friend ignored the question as he exchanged some words with the driver.

“Now he’ll be moody for the rest of the week, thanks to you.” Jongdae finally said, effectively ignoring her question and opening the door for her.

It was then that her brain and her entire body seemed to get back to life and she yanked her arm off his grip, making him turn around with an annoying stare that made her hesitate for a second. But it was his undisturbed attitude and how weirdly collected he was after the whole thing, which made her anger flare again.

“Holy crap! You knew!?” She demanded.

Yoongi was backing out of the taxi that had an opened door but Jongdae was faster to grab her by the shoulders and lead her to the backseat and when she turned her head to where his car was, she could see Yixing’s figure already leaning against it; which was impossible considering the distance.

“Wait a second!” She cried out, wanting to get some answers but he was shoving her into the taxi without any gentleness. “So it’s true?”

“Goddammit Yoongi, just go home and tie the loose ends yourself. You’ve tortured us both enough with that stupid movie.” He grumbled, managing to make her get in the taxi and closing the door right into her face for the second time that night.

And just like that, the taxi drove off, passing by next to where Yixing was apparently, patiently waiting for Jongdae and it was one of the strangest feelings in her entire life. The way he held her stare and something told her, no, convinced her that it was the truth. Something primal in the way he looked at her and the genuine anger in his eyes as he did, were more than enough to confirm her that he wasn’t joking.

Yixing was a vampire.

And it sounded so crazy, she didn’t realize how she got to the safety of her home later that night but for the first time in years, she felt afraid of the darkness and what the night could bring to her nightmares.


	3. Vampire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zhang Yixing was a vampire but he wasn’t like the vampires on her books and movies and she didn’t know how to react to that.

She didn’t have nightmares. She couldn’t even sleep properly, to begin with, because Zhang Yixing, the kindest and most adorable guy she’d met so far and that happened to be particularly interested in her, turned out to be a vampire.

Yoongi believed with every part of her body that he was, in fact, a vampire because everything made sense and she wondered how she didn’t see the clues. It made sense why he wore sweaters during the summer without seemed to be bothered by it. Jongdae moved all of his stuff in during the day without his help because he must’ve been hidden in some antique wooden coffin somewhere in his apartment. It made sense how cold his lips felt against her skin, not because she was blushing that hard, it was because he was a vampire. The way he moved in a blink of an eye or how she never seemed to hear him coming, it all was because he was a freaking vampire.

She groaned against her pillow, tossed and turned around in her bed that night, irritated and unable to sleep as her head was reeling with questions and it started to frustrate her that she wasn’t as afraid of him as she was supposed to be.

Of course, getting out of bed late, tired and in a bad mood wasn’t enough to ruin her day because she also got late to work only to be nagged about it by Bomi without a break and she really wanted to spit a whole bunch of profanities so the air-headed girl would just shut up for good. 

Yoongi tried her best to focus on her job, to do whatever she had to do but she was too tired, too confused and Bomi was a little bit more than unhelpful, that she felt like she was going to explode in any moment. By noon, the editor called her into her office for the second time that week but considering her performance that day, she doubted it was for something good, so she braced herself, ready to be scolded.

“Do you want to go home early?” The editor said straight to the point as soon as she was inside the office.

“Excuse me?”

“Bomi has been a pain in the ass to you,” He explained without taking his eyes off the screen of his computer. “she always has but today it looks like her boyfriend finally left something shoved into her butt.“

Yoongi didn’t know what to say at that. She wanted to laugh because one thing was sure; she had never imagined her boss saying anything of that sort and even less, to agree with a comment like that but he was right, Bomi had been particularly salty that day and she was getting tired of that.

“Also, it’s proven that open offices aren’t the best environment to develop creativity,” He said, peering at her over his glasses. “and right now, you’re the creative asset that could make this month’s issue work.”

Again, Yoongi didn’t know what to say so she just looked at him, unsure of what to do next because she was sure she was supposed to get scolded, not getting praised.

“What I’m saying is, if you’ll work better from home, go ahead,” The editor said with an unexplainable soft tone in his voice, “the weekend’s just starting so make it count.”

“Are you sure?” She asked, taken aback of the chance of clocking out early that day because that was exactly what she needed.

“If that’s what is going to take to get rid of Bomi off your back, then yes, I’m sure.”

“Thank you so much, Sr,” Yoongi said, bowing to her boss in genuine gratitude before sprinting out of the office towards her desk.

“Don’t forget to check your emails!”

She heard the man say out loud and she yelled something back, something that resembled an _ I won’t _ , a _ thank you _ and a _ see you on Monday _ and she simply picked all of her stuff and left the building as fast as she could to the safety of her tiny apartment.

An hour later, Yoongi was in her pajamas and messy bun, eating snacks with a huge cup of diet cola, her brain-focus music on the background and completely immersed in the countless emails she was getting from her co-workers that were still confined at the office.

She was happy now; her mind occupied with the task she had in her hands and as time went by, the corkboard in front of her has suddenly covered with post its and pictures with all the notes of the possible articles the magazine could have that month.

It had a little bit of everything, from the movie review she hadn’t even started, to detailed profiles of the characters, a whole 5 page section of goth-like fashion trends that were supposed to rock the upcoming season and even a few recommendation lists of books, movies and underground music that any vampire in the world would like. Well, maybe not real vampires would because she wasn’t sure Yixing was into that kind of music or trends and with that thought, the guy stole her attention once again.

It felt like what happened the night before was part of her imagination, just like the small voice in her head was always trying to convince her. Without having any news from Yixing and not even from Jongdae, which was beyond weird, she was starting to doubt herself but it did happen.

_ Is it true then? _ She texted Jongdae because she didn’t know what else she could ask.

** _ Don’t get me involved in this. _ **

_ Is Yixing really a vampire? _ She insisted.

** _ If you want to find answers, go and ask him. _ **

** _ You know where to find him. _ **

_ Actually, I don't… _

_ You idiot. _ She wrote back, rolling her eyes.

** _ I don’t care. _ **

** _ Dumbass _ **

If they weren’t talking about an actual vampire, Yoongi would’ve snorted at that reply but there wasn’t anything amusing about the subject and it didn’t help that she got no answer after that so she called him and the bothered voice that greeted her, annoyed her a tiny bit. Jongdae was avoiding her.

“Answer my questions!” She whined at him like she always did when she wanted something.

_“What do you want?”_

“Are we going to do anything this weekend?” She changed the topic with a pout.

She knew he wasn’t going to answer her straight out questions and it saddened her that she had to ask that because he would, at least, send a text asking if they would do something during the weekend but so far, she hadn’t even heard from him and she needed to hang out and spend the hundred thousand words she had stuck in her head.

“It’s Friday and I’m bored already.”

_“I’m out of town.”_ He announced lifelessly and something in her chest sunk a little.

“Are you at your parents?”

His silence was enough to answer and it hurt. Jongdae always invited her whenever he went to her hometown because that meant visiting her parents as well. They going to Suncheon, together, was a given.

“Thanks for the invite.” She mumbled, trying not to get bothered by that, “You didn’t even mention it.”

_“It was a last-minute thing…”_

Suddenly, all Yoongi could hear was someone in the background asking if it was her on the phone. She knew that voice and smiled at the hustle, whining and nagging on the other side of the line. Jongdae was getting scolded by his mom for not bringing her along. It really was a given.

_“We’ll be waiting for you to have dinner together, darling!”_ Yoongi heard the lovely lady say out loud.

_“Don’t come, Yoongi.”_ Jongdae hissed at her once he got the phone back.

_“Hurry!”_ Mrs. Kim sang adorably over his son’s voice and that only managed to make her smile. _“I love you!”_

“Your mom just invited me.” She answered back, satisfied that she could always count on Mrs. Kim.

_“I’m uninviting you.”_ He grunted clearly unhappy.

“You can’t do that so I’ll see you for dinner!”

She hung up before he could say anything else and hastily started to get her stuff ready, shoving a change of clothes into her backpack, also her laptop and a few notes just in case she had a chance to work on the articles for the vampire monthly issue and in a matter of minutes, Yoongi was running to the bus stop.

She barely made it to the train station on time and almost four hours later, she was jumping into the bus to Jongdae’s house because, of course, as annoying as he could be when he wanted to make a point, she knew he hadn’t any intentions of picking her up.

It didn’t bother her because ten minutes later, she was happily walking down the quiet street where his and her parent’s houses were, obviously, Jongdae’s being a lot bigger than hers because the Kims were, in fact, the wealthiest family in the neighborhood, if not in the entire city.

At first, the house, that was right next to hers, functioned as a summer house the Kim family used whenever they wanted to get away from the hectic life in Seoul and that was how they met. Jongdae used to spent his summers there and both families bonded rather quickly and without any problems.

Maybe, that was the sole reason why summer was her favorite season of the year. Yoongi grew up waiting for summer, excited to see her best friend and her cool Jongdae oppa from the big city and it was a thrill when he arrived. It seemed to everyone that they were attached at the hip because together, they did about everything that came to their minds and at first, she didn’t get the jokes about the Parks and the Kims becoming one family but when she was in middle school and boys were a subject she was starting to get very interested about; she understood what that joke meant.

Apparently, an arranged marriage between Yoongi and Jongdae didn’t seem that crazy when they practically grew up together and there were no objections whatsoever from any of the families but that was exactly what made the idea too crazy for them. They knew each other too well and they were too similar to the point of ending up fighting all the time about the smallest and most ridiculous things.

However, as similar as they were, they grew to like different things and to follow different paths. When Jongdae wanted to become the best oncologist in South Korea and save lives, Yoongi aimed to captivate people’s hearts with her writing and despite they had different objectives in life, it looked like that only got them even closer.

She had never screamed as loud as she did on his graduation, embarrassing not just herself but him as well and inciting chuckles from the entire hall and of course he had his revenge on her graduation the following year.

That was how things worked for them. They teased and annoyed the crap out of each other but also, they got each other’s back when they needed it the most. It was Jongdae, the one that convinced her to move to Seoul, he was the one that always helped her out when she wanted to give up and he had always been cheering for her at the sidelines.

Even if she was smart enough to get into Seoul’s National University on her own, her family didn’t have the funds to afford to send her to the most prestigious university in the country but the Kims got that covered though, saying that it was an investment in the future of their soon to be daughter. The high hopes the Kims had on her, never failed to make her blush and Jongdae only snickered in amusement because at the lights of their everlasting bickering, a wedding between them, was far from happening even if she was part of their family already.

Yoongi didn’t have to ring the bell when she got at the entrance of the Kim residence because she knew the code already but that night, something was off when she left her sneakers on the shoe rack and grabbed the cute hippo sleepers Mr. Kim got for her. There was something different in the house that had always felt like her own and as she kept going in, the weirder she felt.

She couldn’t pinpoint what it was, maybe it was the smell, or the unusual silence or the sudden lack of color. Since Yoongi could remember, the Kim residence had always distinguished itself for its amazing decor. She knew then that the flower arrangements were missing. The place was stripped of any kind of flowers and that was weird.

“What happened to the flowers?” Yoongi said out loud, walking through the silent corridor and soon was greeted with a warm hug and big smile by Jongdae’s mother. “You love flowers, auntie.”

“You’re right,” She nodded sheepishly, “but we got visitors since late last night so I didn’t have time to settle everything the way I like it.”

As if on cue, the door at the end of the corridor, the big dark brown walnut door that leads to Mr. Kim’s office was slowly opening and Yoongi heard a couple of voices laughing. One, she grew up with and that was as warm as her father’s voice and the other, was the one that could make her heart skip a beat.

“Oh good! Stop with the business, you two.” Mrs. Kim said softly and bringing Yoongi closer to the men that were stepping out of the office.

She knew then, why Jongdae was so insisting on uninviting her. He didn’t want her there because Yixing was the late-night visitor and his smile disappeared the moment he saw her.

“Look, honey, Yoongi just arrived, like I told you,” Mrs. Kim announced with her characteristic caring tone, “so now it’s time to have dinner.”

“Yoongi, it so nice to see you here,” Mr. Kim greeted her with his usual smile that seemed to be reserved only to her, “I’m glad that you will join us for dinner tonight.

Yoongi was aware of the half-smile she gave him. She wanted to be more polite, Jongdae’s parents deserved that and more from her but Yixing’s presence was too overwhelming for her brain to function properly.

“I think Jongdae already introduced you, am I right?” Mr. Kim asked nudging the Chinese forward.

“Yes, we’ve already met.” She smiled just for Mr. Kim’s sake, “Hi, Yixing.”

He didn’t say anything in return. He just gave her a wan smile and was ready to leave the place when Mrs. Kim intercepted him with raised brows.

“Yixing, darling, aren’t you staying for dinner?” She asked with an innocent tone that Yoongi had seen many times before when Jongdae was a crybaby to get something in particular.

“At least it would make us some company.” She pressed on with the full power of her motherly tone in her voice.

She saw in surprise how the Chinese agreed to Mrs. Kim's request without even thinking about it and then, they were all seated at the table as the housekeeper served the plates in absolute silence. It was like any other dinner at the Kims but she’d never felt that self-conscious before and she almost gasped when everyone started to eat but Yixing wasn’t even given a plate on his own.

Yoongi looked around the table when the housekeeper disappeared once she finished serving the plates, Jongdae was talking with his father about something that happened at the hospital and Mrs. Kim was smiling at something Yixing was telling her and overall, they all seemed to ignore that the Chinese vampire wasn’t eating.

“They know.” She whispered to Jongdae’s ear, scandalized to noticed how relaxed his parents were around the vampire.

“Of course they know.” He whispered back in a nagging tone that made her feel like she was an idiot for even saying such thing, “now eat your dinner.”

The rest of the night after that shocking discovery went relatively alright and with nothing out of the ordinary, other than Yixing being the only one at the table not eating but folding his napkin in many and pretty animal shapes.

When they were done, Jongdae’s parents went to bed, Yixing disappeared only he knew where and that left Yoongi alone with her friend, that was already whining from being bored so they settled themselves for a movie and then, they were comfortably snuggled on the big couch on the living room and some action flick he wanted to watch, playing on the screen.

A few minutes into the movie, someone came in and Yoongi felt her skin brisk because if he hadn’t practically walked right in front of them with an upset glare, they wouldn’t even notice him in the room and that was creepy.

Of course, as nice as Jongdae was, he invited him to watch the movie with them but the guy just kept staring at the lack of space between her and her friend in the couch and it was annoying to have him glaring at them with so much judgment that she just returned the gesture.

When Yixing noticed that she was glaring back at him, he turned around, avoiding her eyes and took a seat in a big armchair that was too far away from her to see him but at least, he seemed to be willing to stay in the room without glaring and that was fine with her.

Jongdae always talked during movies and it wasn’t nearly as annoying as everyone thought that Yoongi actually enjoyed having those small chats during the movie but with the vampire’s presence in the room, it was as if even him, was too uncomfortable to say something.

“How’s the business, hyung?” Jongdae broke the tense silence around them when the movie had a very supposedly emotional moment but that was on the verge of ridiculousness.

Yoongi felt curiously interested to know that too, forgetting about the movie and sitting up to see the Chinese that was sitting still as a marble statue but the answer never came, because the guy simply shrugged in response and it irked her that he wasn’t answering a simple question when just a few days before, when she asked the silliest things, he wouldn’t shut up.

“What does,” Yoongi snapped, shrugging just like the Chinese did, “this means?”

Yixing was staring at her, it wasn’t the upset glare anymore because he looked surprised. He seemed to be taken aback by the question but yet again, to her further annoyance, he didn’t answer.

“And now you’re _ dead _ silent.” She scoffed in irritation.

Yoongi felt Jongdae go completely still by her side and even if she reckoned that her observation was a little too much, it was a fair clue of how upset she was.

“What’s your problem?” Jongdae asked in a hushed voice but she wasn’t having any of that.

“Now I’m the one with a problem?” She retorted, kicking off the blanket Jongdae had covered them with and stood up to face the Chinese that looked completely shocked. “Fine, my problem is that you just blurted out something huge last night and I want answers but no one wants to tell me anything.”

She was surprised at what came out of her mouth as much as it seemed to surprise the two guys that were looking at her as if she was a creature of outer space and that just got under her nerves more.

“It bothers me that you asked him something and he doesn’t even have the decency to acknowledge that he’s being spoken to,” Yoongi kept going with her rant and cautious of diverting the attention of the fact that she wanted to know more about the vampire in the room, “you sure missed a few manner lessons, mister.”

“That’s enough, Yoongi-” Jongdae intervened.

“Let her,” Yixing interrupted, making the other go quiet as if that was a direct order, “let’s hear what she’s so desperate to ask.”

The way he was holding her stare, gave Yoongi chills. He wasn’t upset but there was no gentleness and not even amusement in his eyes. What she knew was that he was ready to respond to whatever she could attack him with and the truth was, she didn’t know what to ask, at least not completely out of the blue. Sure, she had countless questions but she didn’t want him to answer them just in spite of being called out.

“Who’s the dead silent now?” He pointed out with a smirk that made something inside her flip.

War. 

That’s what came to her mind that just a couple of seconds before was completely blank but she had a question now. Wars happened throughout history since the beginning of time and if you really wanted to find out something from a particular period in time, it was most likely for a war taking place then. Her mind, however, wasn’t good handling all the hasty confrontation and the only war she could think of wasn’t only the biggest one in history so far but China happened to be heavily involved in it.

“Were you at the World War II?” She asked, her voice surprisingly steady.

His gaze hardened, she heard Jongdae saying something but she ignored him, completely focused on the guy in front of her as he just stayed quiet.

“Were you?” She insisted.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t stay to find out,” Yixing said with a hard tone that matched the intensity of his eyes.

To Yoongi, that sounded as a cowardly admission but she knew that saying that out loud was going too far so she kept that herself, deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Well then, did you fight in any war?” She asked, softening her tone.

“Yoongi, can you just leave it?” Jongdae interfered again.

“Aren’t you curious at all?” She asked, looking at him.

“Not really.” He replied with an innocent shrug that wasn’t going to give her any of the answers she wanted.

“Were you involved in any important historical moment?” Yoongi asked, directing her attention towards the Chinese but he shook his head in denial. “Why not?”

“I was busy with other stuff,” Yixing said, finally breaking the eye contact.

“Like what?” She scoffed, annoyed that he was turning to be so indifferent and apathetic to what was happening around him but that made him snap again.

“Life!” He sneered at her, his eyes dark and intense, making her step back. “Believe it or not, I had a life and a family to take care of and being a busybody wasn’t going to keep them safe.”

“I get that,” She whispered, trying to control the tremble in her voice, “but I’m talking about moments that shaped the world and…”

“Goddammit, Yoongi, it was war times,” He grunted with so much disdain, she felt herself cowering in front of him. “We had to survive however we could, living with the fear that one simple misstep could anger Khan and he would just tear us apart.”

“That’s enough.” Jongdae was the one that spoke and like it seemed to happen every time he had that warning hint in his voice and as if it was an invisible lash on the Chinese, Yixing stepped away from her.

“It isn’t like in your novels.” He retorted.

And that short sentence was her last straw.

“Excuse me, Yixing, you’re right,” She mumbled, trying to control the tears that pricked her eyes, “I would know that from the extensive list of vampires I’ve met.”

Yoongi didn’t feel like staying in there any longer so she just left the room, feeling smaller and humiliated than ever by no other than the handsome guy that made her heart beat faster. She grabbed her stuff without making such a fuzz and left the house in silence.

It was a warm summer night, it was late and she was upset, walking in the dark street, tightly holding the straps of her backpack when a black car drove by the wrong way, slowed down by her side and the window slid down to reveal a smiley Jongdae.

“Where are you going?” He asked from inside the car that was moving at her walking pace.

“To the train station.” She replied, refusing to look at him in embarrassment for her sudden outburst.

“Won’t you go to visit your parents?” Jongdae asked and his voice was amused and slightly playful, “Coming all the way from Seoul and not visiting your parents, such a filial child you are.”

“I won’t get in the same car as that jerk.” She said loud enough for the Chinese to hear.

“Yixing already left.”

Yoongi stopped. Of course he wouldn’t jump in the car to go after her, and she felt like an idiot for even considering he would but what worried her the most, was the amount of different things that simple piece of information made her feel all of the sudden regardless of how much he could get under her skin. It wasn’t supposed to be that way and knowing that he wasn’t near, she just got herself inside the car.

“Why?” She dared herself to ask as Jongdae pulled over in the correct way and turned the engine off.

“He said he needed time on his own.” He replied with a tired sigh and in all honesty, that was how she felt too, she wanted some time on her own but her mind was still reeling with unanswered questions.

“Why didn’t you tell me about all this?” Yoongi finally asked, moving around the seat to have a better look at his friend.

“It isn’t my secret to tell.” He said, looking to a place far away from them.

“Did you freak out when you found out? Because I don’t even know how to react.”

“Do you remember the time off I took right after my third semester?” Jongdae asked, seemingly absently.

Yoongi nodded because she did remember his unexplained break that took everyone off guard, but that the Kims were so careful to stage, explaining that the family was undergoing through some difficult times that needed the efforts and attention of every one of its members.

“That was how much I freaked out.”

She wanted to say something reassuring but she wasn’t sure if there was anything appropriate to say in that case.

“Listen, it’s some sort of a family legacy,” He started to explain and she appreciated that he finally was taking the time to explain what was happening, “we take care of him whenever he’s around and he takes care of us in exchange.”

“How is he going to do that?” She scoffed and by the scolding glare Jongdae gave her, she knew she was going too far, again; so she had to backtrack her words. “I mean, don’t take me wrong but he seems to be the type of person that wouldn’t even kill a fly.”

“Agree.” He chuckled but that easy smile was soon gone and replaced by that seriousness that was so foreign to see on him. “Do you remember my dad’s heart attacks?”

“Of course I do,” Yoongi said in a whisper at the memory of those days.

After the first signs of severe exertion without doing much and unexplained chest pains, Mr. Kim was rushed to the hospital and detected with severe heart failure. She remembered the day of anxious waiting when he was taken into surgery to get a pacemaker and the happiness she felt when everything was fixed due to the early diagnosis of the disease.

“Who do think that suggested a full cardiac diagnostic test right before it was too late?” Jongdae asked but she didn’t have to answer that, “We were having dinner just like the one tonight when Yixing heard the failure in his heart.”

Yoongi remembered the Kims handling the situation, saying that they were lucky to see the signs and that was the main reason they moved to Suncheon in the first place so Mr. Kim could take care of his health away from the stress of the big city.

“He gave us the heads up that something was wrong with my brother too.” Jongdae kept going, taking her by surprise with that.

“How could he know that he had cancer?” She found herself asking, not believing what she was listening to.

“I don’t know, Yoongi,” Her friend breathed out, “he never said how he knew that but we made it just in time to get my brother a proper treatment.”

Yoongi was speechless to know the truth about the miracles of the Kim family and realizing that Yixing was behind and more than involved in the matter was beyond weird, though, it made perfect sense.

“Do you remember my licensing examination?” Jongdae cut her reverie.

“How can anyone forget that? Your parents brag about it as if you’d found the cure for cancer.” Yoongi said, holding back her laugh but that managed to make Jongdae smile.

“Yixing helped me study for it and gave me clues to answer the most complicated questions,” He said with a soft glimmer of longing in his eyes, “back then it felt odd how he just said random stuff that wasn’t on my notes and it turned out he’d already taken that examination a few decades before so he knew the tricky questions.”

Yoongi stared at him, open-mouthed in surprise and her mind stopped working for a second. That could explain everything but at the same time, gave her a whole bunch of new questions.

“Hold on,” She asked and failed to contain the sudden admiration in her voice, “does that mean Yixing is also a doctor?”

“He is many things, Yoongi,” He replied, rolling her eyes, “and if you really want to know more about him, you shouldn’t ask me.”

Jongdae was right about that so she just stayed quiet because she didn’t really have anything to say and as her mind was going around the subject, again and again, she ended up feeling slightly guilty of being so judgemental with Yixing without knowing much about his story, or better said, nothing at all.

“He has done so much for our family for almost a century now,” Jongdae broke the comfortable silence that filled the car and he was biting his lip, looking a bit too emotional for a second, “we owed him that much, and taking care of his finances and managing his assets is the least we can do in return.”

And that made Yoongi feel like a proper jerk. She understood the favor the entire family showed to him and now that she knew what he’d done, she felt the need to apologize.

“I’ll drive you home,” Jongdae added with a soft smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “so you, ungrateful brat, can at least greet your parents.”

That made her feel better despite that he was now the one that looked down, which was weird already, but Jongdae wasn’t exactly the type you could question about those sorts of things. He was very clear with his emotions and if there was something she could do to make him feel better, he would ask for her help but if he was smiling when something was clearly bothering him, it meant that she couldn’t do anything about it just yet, so she just smiled at him.

Yoongi smiled back at him and nodded in agreement. She didn’t want to stop by her parents with her ruined mood but now that she wasn’t upset anymore, she really wanted to see them and just like Jongdae predicted, they were delighted to have her home for the weekend and she was more than glad to forget about everything related to a certain handsome Chinese.

She spent the night in her old room, which her mother made sure to keep clean and everything in the way she liked it and it was a surprise how easily she fell asleep and how peaceful her dreams were that she woke up smiling, feeling relieved about something she couldn’t tell what it was and enjoying having a proper breakfast with her parents.

Yoongi found it easy to focus on her work, away from any distractions and with her parents pampering her without any reservations that she didn’t want to go back to Seoul. She wanted to stay in there and not having to worry about her adult life but she was, after all, an adult that had a job to take care of. And once she was back in her tiny apartment on Sunday evening, without her mom’s random and loving hugs and her dad’s comforting presence, she realized it was harder to focus on what she had to do. It was a lot more difficult than she could imagine.

She tried, she really did but the picture of his adorable face being twisted in anger was getting in the way of her concentration and it bothered her that seeing him upset, could have so much impact in her mood so Yoongi decided to take a break. She was already wasting her time thinking about him that going out for a while wasn’t going to affect her work progress more than it already had.

Nothing too elaborated, she told herself as she changed her skimpy pajamas into something more decent and with music blasting through her earphones, Yoongi practically hopped her way out of her apartment. 

She opened the building’s gate that was squeezed between a pizzeria and a pet store and greeted the nice old man that owned the pizzeria like she always did even if he pretty much tortured her evenings with the smell of freshly baked pizzas.

After spending the weekend eating truckloads of food her mom insisted on cooking for her, Yoongi wasn’t even that hungry; she just needed to distract herself from work and especially from _ him _ and cooking always offered that getaway when she needed to clear her head. That was how she found herself walking to the convenience store a couple of blocks away as she hummed her favorite pop song and thought about what she was going to cook.

She felt like eating black bean noodles that night but noodles was exactly what was missing in her pantry and even if she reminded herself that a couple of packets of instant noodles was all she needed to get from the convenience store; half an hour later, Yoongi was walking back to her apartment with two bags filled with food and stuff she probably didn’t need at that moment.

It would have been awesome if her plans would’ve gone the way she wanted from the beginning but sometimes, life threw curveballs that could ruin everything or in some extraordinary cases, like the one she found herself in, that fate seemed to give her chance to make some amends.

Yoongi walked by the pet store and she had to stop for a second just to make sure that what she saw from the corner of her eye was true. She had it hard to control her racing heart when she gave a few steps back and had a second glance through the street window because there was no way it was a simple coincidence.

The messy hair and oversized sweater that she could see among the shelves were unmistakable, and the little voice in her mind was whispering again, urging her to keep walking but she was curious. 

Yoongi realized then, that she wasn’t even mad at him anymore and her curiosity got the best of her when she couldn’t stop herself from walking into the pet store.

She could recognize those sleeve paws anywhere, Yixing was there, standing right in the middle of the pen, his back facing her and she noticed the drop in his shoulders; detail she found creepy to notice considering how little she knew him but she really couldn’t help it. He looked defeated and the way he scratched his head, seemingly lost of what to do, made her smile and she started to wonder how it was possible to find that gesture so endearing.

Yoongi walked further into the store and when she reached the small fence, she had to bite down her lip to stop herself from giggling. She couldn’t believe her eyes because right there, she witnessed the sight of a vampire trying to grab one of the many small bunnies that scattered away around the pen whenever he moved. Even if Yixing was cautious to move slowly to not scare the bunnies, they were faster. They were running away from him and he was whining under his breath, softly stomping his feet on the floor in irritation when they managed to scurry between his feet and his hands and the realization broke her heart because the cute little fluffs of fur were running away from a predator that only wanted to pet them.

As adorable as the sight was, Yoongi didn’t have the heart to see him struggling that much, so leaving her bags on the floor, she leaned over the knee-high fence and she didn’t have a problem to get a hold of one tiny white bunny; it even felt as if the fluffy furball hopped into her protective hands, desperately trying to get away from him.

“Here.” She said out loud and saw him turning around and going still in surprise.

Yoongi held the bunny up to him and the helplessness in his eyes was something she wasn’t expecting. He was petrified, openmouthed yet speechless and simply looking at her, blinking slowly and when she dared herself to smile, Yixing was taken out of his daze and pulled his sleeves down over his hands, fidgeting nervously in an almost humanly manner that was too weird to overlook.

“Are you going to hold it or not?” She asked, trying to force him to move and he nodded, finally approaching her but careful to not look at her directly in the eyes.

“I like bunnies,” he said softly, coming closer to her and holding the small fluff ball in his hands, “bunnies are really cute.”

“I can’t argue with that.” She agreed and that made him smile.

Yixing brought the trembling bunny closer against his chest, nuzzling his nose through its fur, sitting down on the floor with the tiny animal in his hands and his contented smile had no comparison to any other expression of bliss Yoongi had ever seen in her life. He was completely immersed with the tiny fluffball, unaware of the way she was looking at him and the somersaults her heart did all around her chest because it couldn’t be true that he was a vampire. The legends never said anything about them liking bunnies, about them being gentle or even less, about them being so utterly adorable.

“I don’t know what’s cuter,” Yoongi breathed out as he left small kisses right in the top of the bunny’s head, “you or the bunny.”

“The bunny.” He said, firmly but his entire attention still focused on the animal, “because this bunny is really, really cute.”

She wanted to argue back at that. The bunny, just as he said, was indeed cute but him, looking just as soft and as fluffy as the tiny animal, could be considered cute as well but she knew that letting her mind wander through all those thoughts, was dangerous. Maybe so dangerous that it was him the one that brought her back out of her internal debate.

“What are you doing here, Yoongi?” Yixing asked and she froze on her spot.

“I should be the one asking that.” She shot back, with a defensive tone and trying to regain control of her fluttering heart.

“I was walking around and saw these cute little bunnies from the window,” He explained, as if it was obvious and beyond normal to stop whatever he was doing just because of a few bunnies, “and I’ve always wanted to hold a bunny, you know, without killing them in the process.”

Yoongi wanted to point out the if it wasn’t for her, he wouldn’t be holding a bunny in his hands but her heart and her mind were on different pages.

“Were you looking for me?” She asked, trying not to let her hopes rocketed to the sky.

“No.” Yixing replied, shaking his head and the frown in his features, crushed those hopes almost instantly, “Why?”

“Because I live right upstairs.” She announced.

She didn’t want to acknowledge how much it disappointed her to see the realization taking over his expression and even less, how much it hurt when he looked at her genuinely sorry for misleading her with his intentions.

“I didn’t know,” He whispered with an apologetic tone that only made her feel worse, “Yoongi, I really didn’t know that.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter, I have to go now.” Yoongi said, feeling a knot in her throat because she did let her hope to go too high, “Goodnight, Yixing.”

She grabbed her bags, doing her best to avoid his eyes, fighting the embarrassment plastered on her and something in her ears sounded like her name. He might’ve been calling for her but she didn’t have the strength to face him so she just started walking away when all she heard was the loud clattering of all the contents of one of her bags, scattering all over the floor just like the bunnies were running away from him.

Yoongi cursed under her breath because life was definitely throwing a curveball at her when she was dumb enough to believe that something nice could happen but she could’ve been wrong about that too and something good was going to happen after all. She wasn’t even bending over to pick her groceries when Yixing was already picking a few bottles of ramune himself.

“Don't worry,” He said, grabbing a green tea bottle after a couple of packets of pepero then a can of veggies, “I’ll carry them for you.”

She tried to get some things in the other bag but Yixing didn’t let her no matter how much she insisted and she had never felt that nervous in her entire life as they walked to her apartment. He was following her in silence and that short walk from the pet store felt longer than ever and she was suddenly aware of the smallest things, like how old and ugly her building was.

The voice of her reason was screaming at her and something in her chest felt heavy, she wanted to look over her shoulder but she was scared. Of what? She didn’t know but it was alarming how everything in her was warning her to stop whatever she was intending to do and she didn’t even know what she wanted right at that moment.

Her train of thoughts was cut by Bella, her neighbor’s cat. The greyish cat was nice to Yoongi, sneaking into her apartment every once in a while, sometimes, she even woke up with the purring feline sleeping by her feet but now, the cat was in front of them, near her owner’s door and she wasn’t nice. Far from that, because Yoongi saw the cat bristled, the fur of her tail poofing out and hissing at them.

“So, animals, in general, don’t like you.” She asked over her shoulder a bit intimidated and heard him hum in response.

“And I’ve always wanted a pet.” He added.

That finally made her look at him and she saw the longing in his eyes as he stared back at the cat that was still acting out.

“A bunny?”

“Any pet would’ve been nice.”

It was almost as if he was allergic to pets, which was sad already, but actually having an animal running away from you, seemed a lot worse and Yoongi wanted to say something nice but nothing came to her mind so ignoring the hissing cat, she unlocked her door and walked into her apartment, going straight to the kitchen.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” He asked and she turned around, thinking that he might’ve been following her.

Yoongi found him, still standing at the threshold of her apartment with the cans and bottles in his arms and looking at her expectantly.

“So now you can’t come in without being invited?” She asked.

Yoongi tried to sound casual but the possibility of a part of the legends being true made her shiver. Some said that if you didn’t invite a vampire, there couldn’t come in as if there was an invisible wall stopping them but she saw a foreign movie not that long ago that showed a different approach to the matter. In the movie, Ellie, a twelve-year-old vampire, started to bleed out when she forced herself into Oskar’s house and she remembered being completely fascinated by that but now, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to see that happen despite her curiosity.

“It’s just basic manners.” He replied with a simple shrug and a hint of mockery in his tone that made her roll her eyes and convince her that she really didn’t want to find out what could happen.

“Come on in, Yixing.”

It was at that moment, as soon as she said that and maybe already too late to do something about it, that she remembered about her inspiration slash work board. Yoongi held her breath and skipped to the small living room and wished she had something to cover all the vampire nonsense she had stuck on the board. She wanted to cry in embarrassment as she recalled the heavily retouched pictures of Edward Cullen, the black and white one from Nosferatu, all the childish and colorful, and now ridiculous, titles she’d thought for every section for the monthly issue but she was late.

Yixing saw it already and was standing still right in front of her desk, hands shoved in his pockets and reading with unexplainable curiosity all the silly things she had written in there.

“It’s for the magazine!” She defended herself even if he didn’t even ask about it.

If she was aiming to sound casual, she failed miserably but he looked over his shoulder and he was smiling, making her heart flip. The vampire didn’t seem to be offended, the other way around, he just kept reading the notes and Yoongi had to bite her tongue to stop herself from asking his help with an interview. Her mind was racing again with the idea of adding a "My interview with a vampire" section where she could write a short one shot of a fictional interview with a handsome vampire when in real life, she would have an actual interview with him and ask whatever she wanted. Then, she realized that he wasn’t carrying her groceries anymore and she looked around, wondering how, when and where he left everything without her noticing.

“I’m sorry.” He said out of the blue, bringing her back to reality.

With the interview and her groceries incompletely forgotten, she stared at him, completely clueless because as far as Yoongi knew, she was the one that needed to apologize for being a jerk.

“I shouldn’t have lash on you like that when you’re just curious.” He explained.

Yoongi knew she had to say something in return but she remained rooted in her place, watching him walk around her tiny apartment and more than once, she had to remind herself to breathe, especially when her bookshelves caught his attention and she winced in embarrassment. She’d always been proud of her small vampire novels collection but having a real vampire reading through all the titles, was definitely something she wasn’t handling that well.

He ran his slender fingers through all the book’s spines and Yoongi wished she had an explanation for her weird fixation but at the same time, she wanted to tell him that he made her feel like an uncultured idiot despite all the books she had. Life, though, kept throwing curveballs at her.

“Truth is,” He said, closing the gap between them before she could even react, “I like you, Yoongi.”

He was so close, just like that night when he kissed her cheek and she just stared at him as in a trance. Yoongi admired his features that were, against what the books said, soft and she wondered how would it feel if she dared herself to let her fingertips trace his jaw, the bridge of his nose or his plump lips. Yixing was so close she could see his brows behind his messy fringe, smell that soap-like scent that was so characteristic of him but it was his eyes that were mesmerizing. All the signs of the anxiousness she witnessed at the pet store were long gone and in front of her, was the handsome Chinese guy that had everything to own the world.

“I like you a lot, actually.” He remarked with a confident smile.

He liked her. If she ever had a doubt, he just confirmed what she hoped was happening. Zhang Yixing genuinely liked her and a lot, apparently. Of course, her brain stopped working after that.

“Maybe that’s the only reason why I’m here right now when my instinct is telling me to disappear but I want you to ask.” He kept saying but all she could hear as if on repeat was that he liked her a lot.

“Why?” that was all she managed to blurt out.

“Because I want you to know _ me _ better,” he replied, giving a tiny nod to the vampire board not that far away from them, “not the movie version of who I am.”

“No, I mean, why do you like me?”

There was nothing but silence as Yixing stared at her, confused but that was all she could think of the longer she had her eyes on him because it was an undeniable truth that she wasn’t nearly as attractive as he was, not even considering, pretty enough to catch his attention.

“I told you I want to satisfy,” he whispered after a while but the way he said that and the tone in his voice was suggestive in a level she’d never heard before, “all your vampire curiosity and you ask that?”

Yoongi shrugged. She didn’t even know that herself because all she could see in front of her, wasn’t a fantasy creature but a very, very charming and handsome young man, maybe not that young anymore but still handsome man that was interested in her as much as she was interested in him and that was too good to be true.

In a blink of an eye, as soon as all that alluring vibe around him showed up, it was suddenly gone and replaced by the adorable Chinese guy with a sweet smile and Yoongi started to wonder then, if her heart would take all those different aspects of him without stop working for good one day.

“What’s not to like about you?” he whispered to her ear.

Yoongi always pictured herself as a woman that would have an appropriate answer whenever it happened that handsome man confessed to her but in reality, when the time came, she just stared at him.

_ “What’s not to like about you?” _

Well, she had a long list of annoying things that she didn’t like herself; for example, the way she wasn’t able to bring a normal response out of herself or how she couldn’t control her own body because there was something, somewhere in her body, already reacting to him, to his closeness, to his words and to everything that he was and she heard him chuckle. Yoongi knew she looked like a deer caught in headlights and beyond ridiculous and couldn’t believe that he had the audacity of snickering at that when he stepped away from her.

“You must have a lot of work to do so I’ll leave.” He said just as softly as he was still smiling at her.

But Yoongi didn’t want him to leave even if the voice of reason has been telling her that she shouldn’t even have let him come in in the first place but there she was, observing him as he walked to her desk and grabbed something from there.

“Please consider that I would like to take you out on a proper date,” Yixing said and before she could react in any way, he stuck a blue cloud-shaped post it on the corkboard right below the title of her entire project, “without Jongdae as a chaperone, of course.”

It was frustrating her that she couldn’t bring herself to say anything coherent because it was like a dumb joke that he wrote down his phone number right under the drawing that said vampire with big and bright, red blood dripping doodles around it.

The way he said her name after that, finally made her react. It was the endearment, the amusement, and softness when he called her, how it was so easy for him to catch her attention over her loud and racing thoughts, what made her heart flutter again in a burst of giddiness she hadn’t feel in a long time. She looked over where he was, only to find at the threshold of her apartment, ready to leave but something in her wanted him to stay and she saw how his sweet smile was suddenly replaced by a smirk and her thoughts just went wild.

“Just for you to know,” He said with a smirk that was torturing her heart, “you blush adorably.”

She gasped, feeling her cheeks reddening even more and she tried to cover them with her hands, mortified that she couldn’t control herself and by the way he chuckled again, she suspected that he not only saw her blushing cheeks but heard the loud and crazy thuds of her heart against her chest.

“Text me if you’re up for the date.”

With a playful wink, he closed the door behind him and she broke into a sudden fit of giggles, squeals, ridiculous happy dance and the almost uncontrollable fight to control the urges she felt to grab her phone and let him know that she was up for a date any time.


	4. Interview I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zhang Yixing was a vampire but he wasn’t like the vampires on her books and movies and she didn’t know how to react to that.

“Genghis f*cking Khan,” Yoongi mumbled to herself in disbelief, “you’ve got to be kidding me.”

It was obvious that the pterodactyls on her stomach didn’t let her sleep the previous night because her mind was speeding with even more questions and the first thing Yoongi did when she got to her cubicle on the open office of the small publishing house was to make some more research on vampires.

She knew everything that could possibly be known about vampires but there was something that was constantly picking on her curiosity so she literally typed Khan on the browser and the search list wasn’t that long. It was incredibly short, especially after ruling out the Indian actor, Shahrukh Khan, and Captain Kirk’s biggest nemesis, and she was left with one name on the list and she couldn’t believe it.

In Yoongi’s almost expert opinion in the matter, the coolest vampire out there was the one and only, Lestat; even if she had a mini crush on Edward Cullen and all the sparkles around him, it was the vampire prince that really had all her attention because he wasn’t just a prince. Even if it was only in fiction, he managed to be actor, an actual rock star in the ’80s and an author; it was his carefree attitude towards life, his lowkey love for humanity, sardonic sense of humor and sarcasm and even his slightly twisted sense of justice, what always gave her the impression that Lestat was a depiction of the life that always came unfold in her wildest dreams.

As she kept on scrolling down the page and reading about the ruler of the Mongol empire, Yoongi felt a bit out of herself. It was surreal that the adorable guy that had been keeping her awake almost every night, could have lived in the same time as Genghis Khan and the dates right below the ancient picture on the screen were even more unrealistic that her mind was unable to make that simple subtraction on its own so she had to use the calculator on her computer and once the result showed up, she just stared at it for a moment as realization struck her.

Lestat was almost three hundred years old and she thought that was one of the things that made him so awesome but the number on her screen was impossible. It meant that her favorite fictional character was just a boy next to Yixing and her mind couldn’t begin to grasp that concept.

It felt impossible to think about all the things the adorable Chinese could’ve possibly seen in his lifetime, all the things he must’ve known, all the historical moments he witnessed and the urgency she felt to satisfy her curiosity made her shiver. She wanted to know everything and it was that exact thought that made her smash her head against her desk a little bit harder than she was intending to but it was a good measure to gather her thoughts because it amazed her how little consistent proof she had that he was a vampire. Yixing could’ve been making fun of her all the time as all she had was his word, Jongdae’s stories and a few clues here and there that could be explained in any other reasonable way.

Getting a hold of herself, she grabbed her cellphone and stared at the texts sitting at the screen. She was biting her lip, searching for an appropriate first text in her mind but she was also getting impatient. Yoongi would’ve loved to say yes instantly to his plan of taking her out on a date. She would’ve agreed to go out that same night, she didn’t really care but sending a simple text to start a casual conversation wasn’t that easy.

_ Hi _ , she finally wrote and the almost instant reply she got, made her bite her lip even harder.

** _ Hello _ **

** _ Who is this? _ **

** _ Yoongi? _ **

_ Yes! _

_ Sorry _

_ I forgot you don’t have my number. _ She answered in a second, nagging herself for not introducing herself first.

** _ Don’t worry _ **

** _ I’m just glad that it’s you _ **

Yoongi wanted to squeal but she sent a smiley face with the tongue out instead just to smooth things out; not that the conversation was tense or anything, but she was just that nervous to talk to him.

** _ I saved it to my contact list already _ **

_ About that date… _ She wrote, holding her breath because there wasn’t any other way to approach the subject.

“Who are you texting?” Someone popped in front of her, making her drop the phone against her keyboard, “Your imaginary, vampire and sparkly boyfriend, perhaps?”

Yoongi locked her cellphone before looking up but she didn’t need to be a genius to know who that was. Her voice, a little more sharp than usual, was a constant splinter in her nightmares already and when she finally looked up at her, the bored and almost irritating expression of Sun Bomi, didn’t shock her.

“What do you need?”

“The chart filled with prompts you wrote on the board,” Bomi pointed with one of her skinny, expensive-ring decorated fingers to the general board that was right at the sight of everyone at the office, “what am I supposed to do with any of that?”

“Write an article about any of those ideas?”

Yoongi wasn’t surprised that Bomi turned out to be that dumb, she knew that already but right at that moment, she was doing something a lot more important. It was the bored and still clueless expression on Bomi’s face that told her she needed to explain the prompts to her in a more detailed manner, so she did it.

It took longer than expected. Bomi didn’t seem to understand how a prompt worked and Yoongi was getting impatient but she was guessing that something like that was going to happen sooner or later and by the time she got back to her cubicle and saw all of his unanswered texts, her annoyance towards her doll-like coworker was on the roof.

** _ Yes? _ **

** _ … _ **

** _ If you don’t want to go out with me _ **

** _ You can say it _ **

** _ No hard feelings _ **

** _ You’ll be breaking my heart with that tho _ **

** _ I do have a beating heart btw _ **

** _ Yoongi? _ **

** _ I was kidding _ **

** _ Not about my heart tho _ **

** _ It does beat _ **

** _ Are you still there? _ **

_ SORRY! _

_ Annoying-fake-ass Bomi was at my station _

_ asking for something _

_ Sorry _

** _ Who’s Bomi? _ **

_ No one important. _ Yoongi replied, shooting daggers to her across the office.

_ But I’m up for the date _

** _ Really? _ **

_ Yes. _ She wrote, shrinking behind the panels of her cubicle so no one could see the ridiculous smile on her face.

** _ Woah! _ **

** _ I would be blushing right now _ **

** _ But I can’t blush _ **

Yoongi stared at the screen for a second, trying to come up with something to say at that but she didn’t find anything casual. Guys just didn’t say they were blushing and the fact that apparently he couldn’t, was even weirder. Luckily, it was Yixing himself the one to say something.

** _ I’m getting excited _ **

** _ Sorry _ **

** _ What about tomorrow? _ **

** _ Is that alright? _ **

_ I think it’s perfect.  _ She replied, trying to sound casual but in reality, she could feel her chest ready to burst in excitement.

** _ Great! _ **

** _ I’ll pick you up at 8 _ **

_ I’ll be waiting. _

** _ Woah! _ **

** _ I can’t believe I’m going out with you _ **

** _ Thanks, Yoongi _ **

She had to bite down her lip to keep herself quiet because, even if she was just staring at a phone screen, she could picture his adorable face getting lighted up in a sweet smile with dimples and all.

_ Stop saying that! _

_ We’re just going out _

** _ Are you blushing? _ **

Yoongi sat up straight and if she wasn’t blushing before, she was definitely blushing now.

_ Shut up!! _

** _ I wish I could be there to see that _ **

** _ You blush adorably _ **

** _ Did I tell you that already? _ **

_ Yes _

_ You did _

_ Bye! _ She wrote, blushing even more if that was even possible.

** _ Why? _ **

_ I’m at the office _

_ You dummy _

_ I’m “working” _

** _ Ah! You’re right _ **

** _ I’m distracting you _ **

** _ Sorry _ **

She couldn’t really say he wasn’t distracting her and oddly enough, she didn’t want him to stop either. Yoongi wanted to laugh at how clueless sometimes he seemed to be and keep talking to him but she also had work to do at the moment which was something annoying.

_ See you tomorrow _

** _ I can’t wait _ **

_ Me neither _

** _ I’ll see you tomorrow then _ **

With that, she locked her cellphone and shoved it into the bottom of her backpack with the purpose of getting some work done because despite how excited she could be about going out with Yixing, in real life, she really had a lot to do.

Yoongi was in good mood despite the insane amounts of work she had and her days consisted on team meetings, meetings with the editor, having a quick talk with the art department, reading article drafts, writing her own articles, giving feedback, getting feedback and crossing prompts from the board.

It was crazy but she was loving every second of it and not even Bomi’s snarky remarks managed to undermine her good spirits and it was like that, that time went by in a blink of an eye and she was practically skipping her way back home the next day, excited for her date and her imagination playing the most vivid and incredibly scenarios in her head.

That excitement, sadly, turned quickly into anxiousness when she looked at her closet. Yoongi pulled everything out, trying to come out with a nice outfit but she didn’t feel confident in anything and she’d been too busy to go out to get something new and pretty.

Looking at the time in her cellphone convinced her that she really couldn’t go out no matter how much her nerves were telling her that she did and put all of her clothes back in the closet except for the only two dresses she owned and that was somehow alright for a date.

Once the two pieces, the sleeveless floral dress, and a short sleeves swing black one, were carefully laid on the bed, Yoongi observed each one carefully. The floral dress was pretty enough and perfect if he was aiming for a casual date. It was summer and she would be comfortable in it but it wouldn’t work if he planned on taking her to a fancy place. Given that he didn’t look like the type of going to fancy places but who knew, maybe Yixing was aiming to impress her and if that was the case, then, her floral dress would be inappropriate for a fancy date and the black one was the one to go.

What if it was something casual? What if Yixing was planning on something as normal as going to an amusement park, get ice cream and just walk around? He looked like the type of doing something like that and if that was the case, then the floral one was cute and flirty and actually favored her figure a lot but the ifs and buts were giving her a headache. She laid on her bed, kicking the air in frustration because she wished she had Bomi’s wardrobe or at least a couple of those cute everyday outfits she had so she wouldn’t be struggling that much.

Yoongi felt dumb for being envious of something as shallow as clothes and nagging herself for even letting that thought get into her, she stood up and made her mind. He said a proper date and she remembered the remark in his tone when he was talking about it so she was going to make it work and shoving the floral dress back to her closet, she started to get everything ready because she had a plan and it couldn’t fail.

She left her purse on the vanity on purpose, just right by her jewelry box and placed her nicest pair of black high heels and her favorite ankle boots by the shoe rack. Depending on what he showed up wearing when she opened the door, she would go to pick her purse and get an appropriate necklace and then just put on the correct shoes. It was a foolproof plan or at least, that was what she was hoping for.

With her infallible plan well thought, she started the tedious task of getting herself pretty and to do that, she needed all the inspiration in the world to really doll herself up to the point of looking stunning and music was her best source of relaxation so, in a matter of minutes, there was music blasting throughout all of her tiny department.

She didn’t care if her neighbors could hear her top twenty hit songs of the summer for the fiftieth time that week or feel the loud thuds of her ridiculous dancing about to tear down the entire building but she had to stop at some point because dancing along her favorite music wasn’t such a good idea after all and she didn’t want to sweat before even stepping out of the building so she sang instead. She was out of tune but again, she didn’t care. Yoongi was too excited to hold herself anymore, especially if she wanted to behave properly and not make a fool of herself in front of Yixing.

Unfortunately, time went by way too fast and before she realized, it was just a couple of minutes before 8 and he would arrive at any moment. She was skipping around the place nervously as she checked herself countless times on the mirror, retouching her lips and her hair and when the buzz of her door was heard, she gasped. He was perfectly on time and taking a big, but very big intake of air, dusting her dress once again and giving herself a quick glance in the mirror for the last time, she opened to the door and her jaw almost dropped to the floor.

He was smiling, smirking was more like it, showing his dimple but his adorable fringe was carefully swept high to one side, revealing a perfect set of sharp eyebrows. Dressed in a well-tailored navy blue suit and a simple white shirt without a tie that made him look breathtaking because Zhang Yixing wasn’t just adorable. He could be attractive too and Yoongi had to blink several times to believe that the unbelievably handsome man in front of her was the same guy and that he was her date for the night.

“You’re just in time.” Yoongi blurted out.

In the back of her mind was the thought of a plan, almost forgotten so she just stepped aside, still in a daze but trying to focus herself to get said plan into action.

“Oh no, I arrived like ten minutes ago, I was just waiting outside.” He said and she froze for a fraction of a second.

Her cheeks were burning at the possibility of him witnessing her immature show and when she looked at him, he had that amused smirk still on his face. Yixing heard her and she knew that.

“Yes, I heard you singing but I was busy having a staring contest with your neighbor’s cat.”

“She can be terrifying sometimes.” She added with a shy smile.

Yoongi was slightly grateful that he didn’t mention anything else about her ridiculous singing so she just slipped away to her room, picked the nicest necklace she had, a silver one that the Kims got her on one of her birthdays and grabbed her purse.

Yixing was still waiting for her at the threshold of her apartment and nervousness started to sink in. She was going out on a date with a rather handsome vampire that heard her dumb singing and didn’t seem to be bothered by that. He even patiently waited for her to get on her high heels and offered his hand for support, always smiling at her.

They walked down the stairs slower than usual because Yoongi wanted to be extra careful not to trip with her heels and he didn’t seem to mind but having the touch of his hand wrapped around hers was like holding onto the fences of a park during winter. His hands were cold and his grip was strong and solid and something inside her jumped at the idea of him never letting her go but the thought was soon gone when they came out to the street and she gaped at the black luxury car parked right in front of her building.

Yoongi didn’t know much about cars, except for a few things Jongdae insisted on her to know about them like differentiate a luxury car, from a sports one and a mundane one. His reasoning behind it was a lot simpler. According to him, if her date had a luxury car, she was supposed to do her best to not let that one go and marry him. When she asked why would she marry someone just by the car they owned, he simply shrugged with a smirk.

_ “It means they have the money to buy a good car and are smart enough to appreciate comfort and safety above the appearances. The others are jerks just trying to show off.” _

His explanations made total sense and when she pointed out that he had a luxury car himself so she might as well just marry him at once considering their long-time friendship, he choked on his own spit.

“Does Jongdae know we’re going out?” She asked out of curiosity at the memory of her friend.

“He would be whining and demanding to know why you’re going in the front seat and not him.” He said as he opened the car’s door for her.

Yoongi noticed the softness in his voice whenever he mentioned something related to her friend and she couldn’t help herself but smile as well at his antics but the statement was also painfully true.

“Are we going out behind his back?”

That question seemed to make not just Yixing but also herself stop for a moment. They looked at each other as if waiting for the other to reply but Yoongi didn’t know if there was even a correct answer to that.

“Not necessarily,” Yixing said softly and with a reassuring smile that warmed her heart, “if you want to tell him, it’s fine by me.”

It surprised her how easy it was to decide on keeping that piece of information to herself because she had to agree with Yixing. 

Considering how annoying Jongdae was with him whenever they happened to be in the same room, Yoongi thought it was better to keep him in the dark about the date and enjoy the moment.

“We can do without the whining for tonight.” She said with an innocent shrug.

Yixing smiled brightly at that and without further ado, he helped her get on the car and the ride was nice. They talked comfortably, nervousness gone and he couldn’t hold his curiosity and asked about Bomi, opening the floodgates of her annoyance. Yoongi told him everything that irritated her about her coworker and he listened attentively, chuckling every once in a while but her words died down when he drove through the driveway of a fancy restaurant and she flinched when a guy in black bowtie and green vest, opened the door for her.

Yoongi felt thrilled when people bowed lower than usual to her and even more when she felt his hand quite possessively on the small of her back as they walked to the entrance. He gave his name to a very pretty hostess and with polite smiles, they were led to a rather spacious waiting room with chairs lined up against the walls and a huge flower arrangement in the table right in the center. Before she could take a seat and get a hold on her own amazement, Yixing was offering her a menu.

She was glad to have a chance to see what the restaurant served with plenty of time before actually ordering but after she read the first two or three dishes, her eyes almost popped out. The prices were insane and even if she wasn’t the type to expect for a guy to pay for the bill, she genuinely wished, due to the little contents of her wallet, that Yixing was going to settle the bill on his own.

“Maybe, if we go out again,” She said softly as her finger pointed out at a dish that cost more than the worth of her entire monthly grocery shopping list, “to a cheaper place, I mean, maybe we can split the bill. I don’t mind.”

Yixing was still for a moment, looking at her but she couldn’t tell what was his exact expression. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts and licked his lips nervously.

“Do you want to leave?” He asked and his voice was so unsure, Yoongi shook her head because the last thing she wanted, was to ruin what he’d planned for their date.

“No, why?” She replied.

“I brought you here with the plan of having good food and a proper talk without people peering at us,” he explained, “I never thought on the possibility of making you feel uncomfortable.”

“It isn’t uncomfortable,” She whispered, leaning closer to him, worried that someone might hear her, “it’s weird.”

“How’s so?” He asked in a whisper as well, seemingly relaxing at her response and that made her smile for an unknown reason.

“I’ve never been in a place like this and the only one that could possibly take me to one is Jongdae,” Yoongi started to say, still whispering, “but he’s always whining for me to pay for his stuff when he earns more than me.”

Yixing said something under his breath that sounded like a bad word but he was still smiling softly and Yoongi felt attracted to it. She wanted to stay right in that place and watch that smile for a long time.

“I asked you out and unless human dating etiquette had changed since the last time I checked,” he added, breaking the spell of his beautiful smile and reminded her of the subject they were talking about, “I’m more than willing to take care of the bill, so don’t worry about it, Yoongi.”

That gave Yoongi a wide burst of feelings she couldn’t explain, from the admiration at his words to the way he said her name and how often he used it. In any other circumstances, saying her concerns about money out loud would’ve made her feel utterly mortified but not to Yixing. That might be because there wasn’t a single trace of judgment in his eyes when she said that the same way her name came so easily to his lips and with so much endearment, maybe for the first time in her life.

“What is it?” He asked and Yoongi blushed to the realization that she was staring at him, most likely with a dumb smile on her face.

“Did you know my name is actually a boy’s name?” She commented to distract herself from his charming smile and by the perfect raised brow that he gave her, she knew she had to elaborate, “my parents were expecting a boy and got a girl instead so they thought it would be a funny story to keep the name. They never realized until later that people would bully me because of that when I was a kid.”

Yoongi felt small after saying that out loud, especially after so long but she couldn’t do anything about it. She had a boy’s name and she had to learn to deal with that and so far, she was doing great.

“My first interaction with Jongdae ever,” She kept going and ignoring her instinct to look at him because she didn’t want to have the image of his pitiful smile on her memory, “was when I was five and I hit him to the ground because he made fun of my name.”

“Did he cry?”

Her head snapped to the side to look at his amused face that was listening so attentively and the previous sentiment that always made her feel so insignificant was soon forgotten.

“Of course he did but he’ll never admit it.” She scoffed with pride.

“Do people still make fun of your name?” He asked again and there was that soft tone in his voice that matched the way he was always looking at her.

“Not anymore if you don’t count Bomi.”

Because the air-headed girl seemed to miss the memo that they were old enough to skip the ridiculous names insults and there were still some people that asked her if she was aware that her name was a boy’s name like she didn’t know that already but with Yixing was different. Her name sounded right when he said it as if it was made just for her.

“She sounds like an awful person.” Yixing interrupted her thoughts.

“She is.”

A waiter approached them with a polite smile then and led their way through the restaurant that was a lot bigger than Yoongi expected. They walked by different private rooms, some indoor balconies and what it looked like the main hall and as they did, Yoongi noticed the high fashion of all of the customers. She wanted to pat her own back, congratulating herself on her choice of clothes because even if she was sure her entire outfit altogether wasn’t even close to the price of a single designer high heels of any of the diners, at least she didn’t show up underdressed for the occasion.

She covered her mouth, almost squealing when they arrived at the garden because everything was so beautifully decorated with lights hanging from the trees and the canopies, flowers at the sides of the stone path they were walking through and a fountain that had candles floating around. The place looked like all those high-end restaurants that were featured on the magazine she worked for and she smiled when she saw their table but Yixing stopped dead in his tracks before getting any closer.

“I was very clear about the flowers.” He said and his tone was a bit harder than she’d heard from him so far.

When Yoongi looked at him after having a glance at the flower arrangement in the center of not only their table but on every other one around the place, she didn’t know what to do. The flowers were delightful, she could bet that Mrs. Kim would’ve loved them but the scowl on his face was making her feel uncomfortable and mindlessly, she stepped aside but his hand was clasped around her wrist in a blink and gave a harsh look to the waiter that didn’t seem to know what to do as well. Another waiter, maybe the one that was in charge at the moment, was next to them in a second, giving them an apologetic bow.

“You’re correct, Mr. Zhang,” he said nudging the other waiter, “I was about to take the flowers off. It was our mistake.”

Yoongi stood still, not knowing where to look in the embarrassment of the scene but when she looked around, no one, absolutely no one was looking their way. In any other place, people from the other tables might have been talking about them already but there, it was as if nothing important was happening and when she realized that, the waiters were taking the flowers off the table just like they said and disappeared into the building, leaving them alone.

“I’m allergic.” Yixing explained simply.

With a nod, they finally approached their table and she let him pull the chair out for her. Even if he was giving her a small smile, it looked a bit forced and his entire posture was too stiff and she was sure that his sudden allergy to flowers wasn’t the entire truth about the matter but she decided to quiet about it.

Yixing took his place across of her and just as they scurried off, the waiters were back, one of them placing their respective menus right in front of them and the other, making a new arrangement with candles, dark stones and glass vases filled with water. Yoongi watched the entire process with fascination because just as she said earlier, she’d never been in a place as fancy as that one, neither being treated as nicely as they were being treated at the moment and she couldn’t help herself but let that show to the waiters with a wide smile and a genuine thanks that lighted up the atmosphere, making the waiters smiled back at them and Yixing stared at her with those soft and captivating eyes. His annoyance seemed to suddenly wear off and aware of the way he was looking at her so intently, she opened the menu and hid behind it even if it took her a few seconds to compose herself and read the menu again.

Yixing said that she shouldn’t worry about the bill but she felt beyond clueless as she kept on reading. Most of the dishes were too alien for her and the ones she did understand, were too expensive. Simply put, Yoongi didn’t feel comfortable asking for wild boar’s meat so she picked between the cheapest dishes on the menu and she would’ve never guessed that steaks were in that category.

“I’d like a steak.” She said and when the waiter asked how she wanted it cooked, Yoongi simply blinked at him.

“I think well cooked would be alright.” Yixing intervened, looking at her expectantly.

“Oh right! Yes, well-cooked, please.” She giggled, slightly embarrassed but trying her best not to show it.

“I’ll have the same but rare,” Yixing added, holding back a grin.

Yoongi stared at him, trying to understand what a rare steak was but overall, excited with the whole experience. The drinks were served soon after that and considering that she wanted to basically interrogate Yixing, she ordered a simple glass of carbonated pomegranate juice and he, on the other hand, asked for a glass of wine that she suspected he wasn’t going to finish just like the beer he barely drank that night at the bar.

“I had to make some research,” She said as soon as the waiter was out of earshot.

Yoongi realized then that maybe it was too straight and too soon to start with her interview but he didn’t seem to mind. Yixing chuckled in response and leaned further back in his chair in a more comfortable position, nodding at her to keep going with what she was saying.

“You said you were at war with Khan and the only Khan I know is Genghis Khan,” she said, suddenly aware of how impossible that sounded, “were you talking about the actual Genghis Khan?”

He nodded.

And that was all she got. Yixing wasn’t smiling anymore but his expression wasn’t harsh either. He was simply staring at her, waiting patiently and instead of being him the one answering her questions, Yoongi felt exposed under his scrutiny, especially when he turned out to be as old as she first suspected.

“So that means you’re like over 800 years old,” Yoongi uttered in shock.

“Really!?”

She jumped a little at his sudden reaction, looking at him with curiosity because it looked like she just told him that the sky has been purple all this time and he hadn’t realized that yet.

“Am I that old?” He mumbled under his breath, lost in his thoughts and his expression was hilarious, almost child-like.

“Why are you so surprised?” She chuckled.

“I guess I lost the count after the first century.”

Yoongi couldn’t laugh after that because he was talking with so much familiarity as if they were talking about something as mundane as drinking water and not about immortality and she didn’t know what to say.

“That means I can be your sugar daddy.” He added.

“Excuse me?”

She stared at him, unsure of what she heard but the shocked expression was completely gone off his face and replaced by that smirk that was so dangerous to her.

“As far as I know,” he explained with that sufficient attitude he displayed sometimes, “the Kim’s paid your tuition for university with money that I practically gave them and if I’m that old…”

“I never thought of you like that type of man.” Yoongi interrupted him.

It would be a lie if she tried to deny that her mind wasn’t going crazy already. She was blushing and fighting the rather vividly and suggestive images flashing inside her head so she took a sip of her drink to calm herself down.

“Isn’t it how it works?” he whispered.

Yoongi looked at him, to find him leaning on his elbows on the table, observing her with that smirk still on his face and the images were adding that new feature but then, she saw the sparkle in his eyes that could’ve been missed by anyone. His smile was betraying him and he was trying to fight it back because he was just being playful, teasing her and trying to get a reaction out of her and the worst part was that by the blush on her cheeks, she was giving him exactly what he wanted.

“I’m sure you’re missing the most important bits of it.”

She delivered her answer with the best confident tone she could muster despite the mess going on inside her and took another sip of her drink just to emphasized that she wasn’t that easy to tease. That was when she finally heard him laugh and his laugh was so unrestrained, it sounded beyond perfect to her ears.

That thought made her go silent for a second because everything about Yixing felt natural and uncomplicated to her. He was easy to joke around but it shouldn’t be that way. He was a vampire and a predator and he definitely wasn’t supposed to be that inviting and that made her brain hurt.

“If I’m not mistaken,” he said softly as if he could read her thoughts, “I said I wanted you to ask.”

“I just don’t know what to ask,” Yoongi replied with a timid shrug.

She was lying. She knew what to ask, what she didn’t know was how to ask. It wasn’t like she’d met fantasy creatures on a regular basis and shoot questions so easily but before she could speak her mind about it, the waiter showed up by their table with their plates in his hands.

“Start with something easy.” He suggested, still with a gentle tone in his voice as the waiter did his job.

Yoongi looked down at her plate, forgetting about her questions for a moment because her dish looked exactly like the pictures in the magazines. Her steak was deliciously juicy and garnished with roasted potatoes and asparagus and the smell didn’t take that long to make her mouth water; and when her dish was beyond splendid, his was shocking, to say the least. The piece of meat nicely placed slightly on the left of his plate looked very raw but very raw to her and the blood that circled around it into a reddish half-moon didn’t help her brain to function any better.

“So, you don’t sparkle, right?” Yoongi started once she decided to skip the food questions for when they finished eating their steaks, “then what happens when you’re exposed to sunlight?”

“Nothing, really.” He replied simply as he started cutting a piece of his food.

“Don’t you burst into flames?” She asked.

“No. At first, it hurt, it burned my skin,” Yixing explained and she tried her best to focus on her food and ignore the bright red color of his meat. “but the older I get, the easier it is to handle.”

“So you can go out during the day?”

He hummed in response, taking another piece into his mouth and she did the same but the sound that came out from the back of her throat in pure delight, made him chuckle. Yoongi felt herself blush at her reaction but she couldn’t help it because she finally knew what it meant to eat meat that melts in the mouth.

“I just don’t like it.” Yixing kept talking, “Would you go out at three in the morning every day?

Yoongi shook her head adamantly as she kept on eating. He snickered but she didn’t really pay attention because the tenderness of her steak had all of her attention.

“Do you sleep then?”

“I don’t know,” he replied with an unsure tone that caught her attention, “I close my eyes, everything turns black and that’s it. Is that considered sleeping?”

That was a good question Yoongi didn’t know the answer to and that was apparently, important enough to make the two of them stop eating for a moment.

“And I don’t think I can have dreams either.” He added softly.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbled, admiring the unexpected longing in his eyes.

“Why are you saying sorry?”

There was a sudden frown taking over his expression and Yoongi had to take a moment to contemplate her words because even if that look in his eyes was gone now, Yoongi was sure that he looked sad for a split second and she couldn’t blame him. She would’ve felt miserable and dead inside if she wasn’t allowed to dream.

“It is said that dreaming it’s the mind’s way to cope and process information in a safe place.” She elaborated based on what she read in an article about it long ago.

“So, do you dream about what you think during the day?” he asked, genuinely curious and considering for how long he’d lived so far, she found the question interesting.

“About what leaves a deep impression in you, yes. I guess that explains why we have nightmares,” She explained and the wonder in his eyes made her realize that she was supposed to be the one asking those types of existential questions, “but don’t take my opinion too seriously, I’m not an expert.”

Yixing chuckled, showing a cheeky smile that was too innocent for his own good and then got another piece of red meat into his mouth, reminding her that she wasn’t having dinner with an adorable guy but an actual vampire, her mind started working again in its full speed.

“Wait, so if you kind of sleep like humans do, does that mean you get tired too?”

“I guess so,” he replied with an innocent shrug, “when I don’t feed myself properly, my body gets heavy and slow.”

Suddenly, the half-eaten steak on her plate looked inappropriate and it wasn’t as if she felt uncomfortable with his presence or the topic they were talking about. It was the other way around because something was soothing about him. Yoongi felt safe whenever he was around despite her wildest dreams and all she knew about creatures like him. So far, she would’ve expected to feel a rush of adrenaline running through her body 24/7 but that never happened if you didn’t count the pre-date nerves. In other words, he felt like peace. That’s how she would describe him. Yixing was the embodiment of peace in two legs even if his nature said otherwise.

“Don’t be afraid, Yoongi.” He encouraged her with a tender tone that gave her the guts she needed to speak.

“When you say feed, you mean blood, right?” She asked, knowing the answer already but the soft nod he gave her, made her resolution falter. “Just blood?”

“Mostly,” He answered with a small wince but just as he promised, he didn’t avoid the question. “raw meat helps too but I don’t like it that much.”

He said that last part absently as she looked down to the plate where his barely cooked steak was almost finished and Yoongi finally felt a wave of danger coming over her when the picture of him sinking his sharp fangs deep into a piece of blood dripping flesh. Right at that moment, she knew the steaks were the worst choice of menu when they happened to be talking about food because the legends never said anything about eating meat, it has always been about blood.

She even pictured herself with the marks of his fangs on the side of her neck when he would seduce her to cave into his pleas to satisfy his thirst because that was what vampires were all about. It was all about drinking blood, not actually, eating their prey completely. They were supposed to be the most refined hunters on the top of the food chain and the idea of them, of him, devouring flesh down to the bone just like any other wild animal, gave her chills because there wasn’t going to be anything in the world that would make him stop and ended up killing her.

“You know I’m not dangerous.” He whispered, somehow sensing her sudden fright and it amazed her how soothing and calming his voice was. “Yoongi, I don’t have an insatiable and desperate need to drink your blood. I can’t even hear your heart pumping it through your body like everyone make it seem.”

“How does it work then?” She asked, finally looking at him and he averted his eyes off her as if she just caught him doing something he wasn’t supposed to do.

“I can smell you just like you smelled the steak when it was in front of you.” He explained with a warm smile and playing with his fork and the untouched vegetables on his plate. “It is appetizing but easy to control.”

“Do you have a certain type?” She asked when the idea of everyone in the world having different tastes on food popped in her mind.

He chuckled, amused by the question and looked around the place as if he was looking for something among the crowd that was eating at the fancy restaurant they were in. Yoongi followed his gaze and deep in the back of her mind, somehow, she wished she was his ideal type. The possibility of being that only human being in the world that had the blood he craved the most and the only one that could satisfy his thirst thrilled her but the harsh reality was that his eyes were focused on someone laughing a few tables away from them.

Yoongi stared at a man in his late twenties at the most and everything in her mind tried to work on a reason why it was that man and not her, that caught his eyes but then, she remembered the steak. The way Yixing looked at the man as if he was a rare specimen out of his reach, made her remember that he saw her and that man as simple steaks. She regretted seeing that man because all she could see in her mind now, was the clear image of Yixing eating his leg.

“It’s not like I’ll hunt him down and eat him in the corner of a dark alley.” He snickered, returning his attention to the carrots he scattered all over the plate.

“What do you eat, then?”

Yixing didn’t answer that. He set his cutlery down and clasped his hands in front of him, looking at her, wondering if she needed to know but Yoongi wanted to know, morbid curiosity aside because she found herself wanting to know him better. She really did, especially when everything he was, blood driven thirst and all, felt harmless and fascinating.

“Can I keep that to myself?” His voice finally broke the silence with an apologetic smile that, without any of them realizing, lifted a weight off her shoulders. “I have my meals sorted and it isn’t something twisted or gross, I’m just not comfortable enough to share that…yet”

Yoongi was glad he wanted to keep her in dark about it because she was sure she wasn’t ready to hear that yet. From all the things she’d find out so far, her mind had more than enough already to keep her awake for a few nights but then, like lightning striking, a sudden thought came to her and she needed to know the truth behind it.

“How in the hell do you know the taste of mooncakes?” She asked, her tone more demanding than she thought but her curiosity was on that indomitable mode, “The other day you were talking about them as if it was your favorite dessert ever.”

Yixing was still for a second, seemingly taken aback by the observation but the smile that he gave her after that, slightly guilty, somehow amused and definitely embarrassed, managed to make her feel something close to pride. She caught him and he realized that.

“I was just rephrasing what other people say about them,” he admitted, sheepishly in between giggles, “my tummy would hurt if I eat that.”

Yoongi was giggling in response because she found the explanation rather innocent and adorable and the rest of the dinner went on with a lighter tone and surprisingly, despite the actual purpose of it, without getting too much into the vampire subject. It was as if Yixing wasn’t a vampire at all and she felt guilty of remembering exactly that until he ordered a dessert for her, telling the waiter that he was too full to eat more.

Dessert consisted of something beyond complicated and weird to her and she stared at the cup filled with natural mango ice cream. It was so natural, she could see the chunks of fruit among the frozen cover of stylized caramel and some reddish liquid that was spicy and bittersweet at the same time but that tasted unbelievable amazing combined altogether.

As she ate from the cup, fascinated by the weirdness of the combination, that was when she noticed the silence. Yixing was quiet and he answered any of her questions or replied with a tender smile whenever she said something but other than that, he just stayed silent and Yoongi concluded that he simply wanted her to enjoy the dessert without distractions.

That would’ve been a correct assumption if it wasn’t for the silent drive back to the place that made her wonder if she did something to upset him. However, Yoongi found it hard to know because he was still polite and smiled at her every once in a while as if he was trying to assure her that everything was alright and she didn’t do anything wrong but something was wrong. She just knew it.

Once again, just like he did when they left, Yixing lent his hand to help her walk up the stairs and his skin felt colder and harder than before. Something was wrong and the buzz inside her head was getting louder but she brushed the feeling off when they reached her door.

Yoongi played with her keys, just like that Will Smith movie said about women did when they were expecting something else to happen. Nothing was going to happen though. She knew the moment she looked at him because he looked tired. Slightly older even and she wondered if he always looked like that or the lights in her old building were just that bad and could make someone as handsome as Yixing, look sickeningly pale.

“I have to go.” He said.

And she couldn’t hide her disappointment just like his voice sounded miserable when he said that but it wouldn’t be so hard to hide her reaction when he happened to be so close anyway. Yoongi didn’t notice when he managed to close the gap between them and she was suddenly too aware of how close they were but at the same time, she didn’t want him to leave.

“It’s late and you have work tomorrow.” He explained with a whisper.

His proximity might’ve made her heart flip before but her skin reacted at the touch of the cold tips of his fingers and she felt them like a wave of electricity through every inch of her body. His hands were slow and gentle, caressing her shoulders and going down her arms, leaving shivers in its wake and she nodded, staring dumbly at him. That was all she managed to do.

“Thanks for dinner.” Yoongi was the one that whispered.

She didn’t need to do that but breaking the atmosphere around them was an inconceivable idea when there was something so intimate in the way he was leaning into her or maybe she was the one getting closer. She didn’t know but it felt like an invisible string pulling her close to him against her will and little control she had because she didn’t really care. Yoongi wanted to be closer.

“I really enjoyed it.” She whispered again.

“I’m glad you did.” She heard.

That weirded her out for a split second so the buzz grew louder. She heard him loud and clear but she couldn’t recall those words actually leaving his mouth and when she was about to ask about it, his eyes trapped her attention. Forgetting about everything else, she suddenly wanted to know how a pair of eyes could be so luring and infinite yet so full of secrets but that annoying little voice was there again, distracting her and making her aware of his body pressing her against the door.

The voice was a little more than a whisper, telling her not to fall for it just as softly as he was looking at her. That was when she noticed it. Yoongi wasn’t even sure if his eyes were normal back then whenever they met and suddenly changed in a matter of an eye or if she just never paid enough attention to him before. One thing she was sure and that was that his eyes were darker than before, inhumanly dark to explained it better.

“Is there something wrong?” She asked.

“No, not at all” He replied, blinking several times before looking away from her.

“Are you feeling alright?” She asked again aware of the worry in her own voice.

That question made something in his expression twitch and she was sure then that his eyes were pitch black even if he tried to avoid hers. Yixing nodded with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and Yoongi would’ve pressed on the subject but he was getting closer. There was nothing but coldness coming from him and his scent of earth and wood and something else she couldn’t tell, was all around her, making her feel lightheaded. She shivered, letting out a long sigh when his lips brushed the corner of her mouth so teasingly and the expectation was making her squeal inside her body but the kiss never happened. Regardless of how firm his body felt against hers, she also felt the restraint radiating out of him and considering that he kissed her cheek the night they met, he was definitely holding himself back at that moment.

“I was just thinking that I want to see you again, soon.” He whispered against her skin.

Before she could say anything, not even blink in response, the coldness was gone. Yixing was walking away and leaving behind him, words that felt heavier and more meaningful that the phrase was originally meant to sound.

“Good night, Yoongi.”


	5. Interview II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zhang Yixing was a vampire but he wasn’t like the vampires on her books and movies and she didn’t know how to react to that.

In her humble opinion, Yoongi considered that her date with Yixing was a blasting success. Even if the end was slightly off, she really believed that their date was worth a second one; except that he didn’t call after that and she had to remind herself that he never said he would. She assumed that he might just be busy with work or something like that but after a week of not knowing a thing about him, she started to get genuinely worried.

Sadly, and she never imagined finding herself thinking in that way but, the only text she got that day came from Jongdae because he wanted to get coffee together that same afternoon. With the resolution of finding out what happened to Yixing, she accepted the invite.

When she arrived at The Hideout Café, Baekhyun gave her a charming smile that would have made her blush before but right at that moment, her only objective was to pry some information out of Jongdae. Even if he was still in the dark about the date and if it was as bad as she had the hunch it was, that meant that maybe, Yixing told him something about it. They were kind of best friends anyway.

Jongdae was already waiting for her and he would’ve whined about it as usual but he pretty much ignored her tardiness as he had his phone pressed to his ear and a big concerned frown on his face.

“What’s up with the long face?” She asked.

Jongdae ignored her as she sat down in the chair in front of him and trying to be as dissimulated as possible, she observed him intentively for any hint of a whiny friend complaining about a disastrous date.

“Yixing isn’t answering his phone,” He replied after a while and rather honestly, making her feel guilty for keeping the whole deal in the dark from him, “for days now.”

Well, with that last part, her guilt flew out of the window and genuine worry clouded her thoughts because if the Chinese hadn’t contacted Jongdae either, it meant something really bad happened. Maybe, their date was so bad or she was so annoying that Yixing just left the country without even looking back, just to stay away from her.

“Inspiration might’ve struck him again and he’s been all hermit in his nest, writing music and moping about how boring life is,” Jongdae added with a small smile and his assuring voice but most likely, oblivious to the bad feelings swelling inside her chest, “he does that sometimes, weird isn’t it?”

Yoongi didn’t find it weird or not even amusing at all because for all she knew, he could be dead and when her friend was so relaxed about the Chinese state, the buzz in her head, the very same feel of awareness that made her realize of the blackness of his eyes, was telling her that something was wrong, very wrong in fact.

Jongdae didn’t seem to feel the same and he just started talking, telling her some story about a funny patient he had that day but she wasn’t listening. Her brain was speeding again to find a way to get answers because she couldn’t just blurt out that Yixing took her out on a date without Jongdae going into his full big brother mode on her and questioned her about the smallest things so she found another way to ask.

“When Yixing eats normal food,” she asked out of nowhere and without caring if he was in the middle of his story, “what happens to his body?”

He was frowning at the sudden interruption and a waitress showed up with a cup of coffee that she placed in front of him. The smiling waitress distracted him for a moment and he was nice enough to return the smile, to the waitress's delight.

“That doesn’t happen.” He replied shortly when the waitress was gone and as he snapped a picture of the swan drawn on the foam of his drink.

Jongdae was so sure and answered with such confidence as if he was confirming that Santa Claus didn’t exist. She just couldn’t believe that simple answer and he noticed her incredulity, or the intense stare of her eyes on him as if he was growing three more heads.

“It doesn’t happen because he gets sick if he doesn’t throw up in the first chance.” He explained with a tired sigh and it made sense to her, “He knows not to do that. He isn’t that stupid.”

“What if he does?” She asked.

Yixing said raw meat could work as food for him and considering that the steak he got that night was on the borderline of being freshly ripped off of a cow, she could assume it was safe.

“He wouldn’t,” Jongdae replied, once again with that over the top confidence.

He shrugged lightly before taking a sip of his coffee and it was weird for her to witness his lack of care. It was unlikely for someone like Jongdae not to show the smallest hint of worry and that angered her to the point of lashing out and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“What if!” Yoongi snapped, smashing a hand over the surface of the table and making him jump in surprise but that was soon replaced by a frown.

“Then I’d kick the crap out of him for being stupid,” Jongdae added with a tiny bit of disdain in his voice that matched his expression, “there’s nothing in this world worth for him to poison himself like that. I’m telling you, he isn’t that stupid.”

Yoongi wanted to cry. She felt her eyes stinging with tears but she wasn’t going to give him the pleasure to see her cry. That of course, was easier to say and all the irritation, worry, and annoyance that had been building up for a while now, was bursting inside her and she wasn’t going to swallow all that back now. Not when she’d let his opinion become so important that he could break her heart just with a few words.

“I understand,” she started and the brokenness in her voice caught his attention when he had his cup of coffee in mid-air, “you say he wouldn’t eat a rare steak even if it is because he took me out on a date.”

Jongdae froze for a second, still holding his cup of coffee and slowly, his eyes met hers and she didn’t like what she saw on them. That wasn’t the reaction she was expecting to get because he put down the cup, still slowly but Yoongi suspected it was all his effort to control himself. His clenched jaw gave him away.

“So it was you.” He said with a groan.

That definitely wasn’t what she expected him to say and she felt a tear escape from her eye and kicked in her anger again, reminding her that she wasn’t holding anything back, not anymore.

“I know you think I’m not pretty- no,” she snarled at him when another tear slipped away, “to you, I’m a f*cking nobody that’s just not enough for anyone to be interested in me…”

“No, I didn’t mean it in that way,” Jongdae said and the expression of regret and anguish she saw then, was the reaction she was waiting to see.

“…but you’re just an asshole.”

Yoongi didn’t stay to see what he had to say and he looked completely dumbfounded to react so she just left. She didn’t bother to look back and rubbing her eyes to erase every trace of tears, she sprint-walked to the only place that could give her the answers and peace she wanted.

She walked by the slush store where she bought the disgusting Big King iced drink because if she wasn’t mistaken, his building was just a couple of blocks away from there but Yoongi felt far from calm when she successfully found the familiar stairs and gates that held the truth about what happened to Yixing because it has been only five days since their date and she still didn’t know a thing about him. The uncertainty was killing her, especially after what Jongdae said about him not answering his calls.

Walking up the stairs of the building’s gates, she had to slow down a bit as she took in the overall look of the place. It was a fancy apartment complex that was a lot more expensive than hers and anyone could tell that just by the doorman in a black suit and hat that welcomed her with a smile.

“Good night, Miss,” the middle-aged man greeted her, “how can I assist you tonight?”

“I came to see Yixing.” She blurted out in nervousness and the doorman squinted his eyes at her, “I don’t know in which apartment he’s staying though but if you…”

“I can’t disclose that information,” the man interrupted her and the smile was gone. “except for family members and close friends Mr. Zhang sets on the list himself with advance notice.”

Yoongi stared at the man without knowing what to say and her mind completely blank because the last thing she was counting on, was ongoing through a doorman that took his job quite seriously.

“If you don’t know that information, then I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave, Miss.” The man said when she couldn’t say anything else to argue but she wasn’t giving up so easily.

“I just want to check on him.” She said hastily when the man started to nudge her to the entrance and out of the building.

“You can always call first.” he shot back when Yoongi skipped away from the doorman but he was fast enough to predict her next move.

“He isn’t answering his phone!” She cried out in frustration at the man that was blocking her way further into the building. “Yah! Why are you like this?”

“You noisy brat,” the man said under his breath and he wasn’t going to back off just like she wasn’t giving up just yet, “you can’t be here making such a fuss!”

“But I’m his girlfriend!”

The doorman stopped in his tracks and eyed her wryly. Yoongi was slightly surprised by what came out of her lips and even more so that the man seemed to believe her or that was what she thought because he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Mr. Zhang doesn’t have a girlfriend.” He stated with confidence.

“Yeah, well it was our very first date,” She defended, raising her chin and unwilling to let the man make fun of her because that was the truth, “it isn’t healthy to put labels so soon in a relationship, you know.”

“Get out.” The doorman grunted and grabbed her by the arm to easily dragged her out.

Still mumbling stuff, Yoongi stumbled out of the building and sat down on the entrance stairs, much to the doorman’s irritation but she didn’t have a choice. If she couldn’t go up to his apartment, she would wait for him to come out because he needed to leave his apartment at some point. Then, it occurred to her that Yixing wasn’t exactly a normal guy with normal necessities like everyone else. He was a vampire. Maybe he didn’t need to leave his apartment at all, maybe, he could just fly away without her noticing and she whimpered in frustration.

How was she supposed to find him and made sure he was alright? Almost as if life was playing in her favor, Yoongi saw the familiar figure of Jongdae walking to her and despite their recent fight, she was glad to see him but he was talking on his phone and holding a small portable cooler in his hand.

“Yes dad, I’ll be careful, f*ck…” She heard him say to his father and he halted, his entire posture stiffened when he spotted her still seated at the stairs like a lost child. “Yoongi is here.”

She saw his jaw clenched at whatever Mr. Kim was saying and it was difficult to know if he was just angry with his father or simply annoyed with her and the ugly things she said to him.

“Yixing told her himself, I did-,” he said with a defensive edge on his voice, “I know, I’ll call you as soon as it’s safe.”

Yoongi stood up but before she could even open her mouth, he shifted the cooler from one hand to another and without giving a second glance, Jongdae kept walking until he passed right by her as if she wasn’t even there.

“Go home, Yoongi.” She heard him say under his breath.

“Why isn’t he answering his phone?”

Jongdae didn’t answer. He walked up the stairs, ignoring her and that was like a punch in the gut that she wasn’t going to let pass just like that or at least she wouldn’t until she made sure Yixing was alright.

“Answer me!” She insisted.

“I said, go home.” He replied, pushing the gate open.

Yoongi wasn’t particularly thinking in the best approach, she just skipped up the stairs and grabbed his arm, pulling him back before he could keep ignoring her.

“Is it because he ate a steak?” She asked and was surprised about how worried her voice sounded. “Did I kill him because of a stupid date?”

“Who knows!?” He snapped, yanking his arm off her grip and she just stared at him, taken aback by his attitude. “He might be just fed up with you and all your stupid questions!”

“You asshole!” That was all she could say in return.

Now Yoongi was angry and by the way, his expression fell, Jongdae was aware of that but he stayed in his place, blocking her way.

“Listen, just go home and I’ll make sure he’s alright.” Jongdae begged and even if his voice was a little softer, his eyes weren’t, “I’ll tell him that you were looking for him.”

“Why do you need to check if it’s safe? Why wouldn’t it be safe?”

“I think I know what’s going on, but I won’t go up if you’re still around.”

“Why not?”

Yoongi had never seen someone rolled its eyes as hard as he did at that moment and cursing under his breath, Jongdae simply ignored her questions and turned around to get into the building.

“If our date it’s the cause for whatever you think is happening, then I need to go too.” She urged, following him closely.

“Dr. Kim,” the doorman greeted him with a respectful bow and as soon as he saw her again, he gave her a suspicious glare, “do you know this young lady?”

“Unfortunately,” Jongdae said under his breath, earning a hard punch on the arm from her.

“Is it true that she’s Mr. Zhang’s girlfriend?” the man asked.

Yoongi felt her cheeks reddening and Jongdae spun on his heels, eyes wide in disbelief and something very close to fright.

“He wasn’t letting me go through.” She mumbled in embarrassment.

“And for a good reason, Yoongi.” He breathed out, apparently relieved but everything in him was still anxious.

“I just want to make sure that going out with me can’t actually kill someone.”

She knew that those words were a lame and childish excuse but that was all she got. If that wasn’t enough to make her nerves irk more, Jongdae was staring down at her and she couldn’t meet his gaze, probably for the first time in her life and more than embarrassment, she felt ashamed and she couldn’t tell why.

“Don’t worry about this Doyoung,” His calm voice said, “she’s with me.”

Yoongi felt an invisible weight being lifted from her shoulder and smiled at her friend in gratefulness but he was already walking towards the elevator. She smiled cheekily at the gatekeeper that pretty much ignored her with a boring shake of his head and simply sprinted after Jongdae.

“You’ll go with me with one condition.” He added right before the doors of the elevator and the relief she saw on him just a few seconds before was completely gone, “You’ll do as I say, no matter what it is. No complaining. No cuss words. No whining. If I tell you to leave the building, you will be out in a blink of an eye.”

“What if I don’t?” She asked with all her attitude back even if she knew that she had to comply with his demands.

“I’ll kick you out.”

Yoongi snorted but by the serious and definitive tone of his voice, it sounded like he wasn’t joking at all and without saying anything else, Jongdae simple went into the elevator and pressed the button to the top floor.

There were two single thoughts in her mind, the first was her friend’s secretiveness and warnings and the sudden seriousness was slightly off with his entire character, and that worried her. The second made her fidgety despite that she wasn’t exactly surprised by Yixing’s apartment was on the top floor of a luxury building considering he owned an equally luxury car and his weird taste in fancy restaurants when he couldn’t even eat what they served.

Neither of them dared to say a word, Yoongi out of disappointed nervousness, and Jongdae on the other hand, probably because he was too proud to admit his mistake or that was what she thought until he cleared his throat.

“About what I said today…” He started with a soft voice but what he said at the coffee shop actually managed to hurt her more than either of them ever imagined.

“Let me guess,” She interrupted him, unwilling to let the matter go with just a simple apology like he usually would, “oh! You want to apologize for being an asshole.”

Jongdae turned to her, not surprised by the slight rudeness in her words but not offended either and that was starting to look suspicious. 

Usually, he would just start whining and they would end up bickering until laughing their quarrel off but that was not going to happen. Yoongi realized that when his eyes were still as cold as before.

“Not really.” He said, confirming her suspicions.

Yoongi felt small under his gaze like never before and started to wonder if the guy next to her was her cool oppa because the longer she stared at him, the stranger he felt and she wanted to know when the change happened so she could have the chance to prevent it.

“This isn’t a joke.” He said lowly and his voice full of that over the edge warning that made her feel completely exposed.

“I know.” She mumbled, trying to sound strong but it didn’t come out that way.

“Sure you do.”

She didn’t have the time to ask what he meant with that because the elevator stopped and the doors were opened to welcome them to a short and lonely corridor that led to a black door.

Jongdae walked in first, leading the way in silence and she felt weirdly put out but she didn’t dare to say anything about it. He said no whining but he was taking his time to unlock the door and if she didn’t know him any better, she would’ve guessed that he didn’t know what to do. 

Looking over his shoulder, just as if he was checking that she was still behind him, he gave her a meaningful glance that didn’t make her feel safe in the slightest way and opened the door.

The place was cold and dark. So cold and covered in complete darkness that her skin brisked instantly. Yoongi took her shoes off and when she looked up, Jongdae wasn’t anywhere near her. Something in her chest sunk at that but she heard the flicks of the light switches but everything was still pitch black as if the place was completely abandoned.

She was scared and nothing in the place felt safe. She couldn’t control the bad feeling crawling through her skin as she walked further into the apartment to where she heard Jongdae trying to turn the lights on when the odor struck her. It wasn’t nasty, just too strong and so heavy that she almost felt the spores getting stuck and itching the back of her throat, making her turn into a sudden a fit of coughs.

Yoongi felt a warm hand rubbing her back and urging her to quiet down but all she could do was to shot him a glare, though it was lost in the darkness they were in and it was because of the sound that she noticed that the place was a lot bigger than she thought; dust, humidity and cold all around her. Jongdae was murmuring to her but it was hard to make out his words when she was still coughing, her throat burning and her eyes watering but she heard it then.

Maybe she didn’t really hear it. She wasn’t entirely sure but her body stopped acting out at the sound that came from the darkest side of the apartment. She wasn’t coughing anymore, Jongdae was still like a frozen statue and he didn’t have to spat out the order because the low growl was enough warning to made her freeze on her spot as well.

“Yoongi, you really shouldn’t be here.” He said in a whisper, “Leave, now.”

She would’ve moved if it wasn’t because she heard the tremble in his voice that sounded much more amplified by the darkness around them and the hiss that responded, was even louder. She couldn’t even see him but she knew Jongdae was scared just as much as she was and that froze her in terror.

“Leave,” he whispered loudly, “didn’t you hear me?”

She did. And she wanted to move, she really did but she saw the shade. Even in the pitch blackness, she saw the figure moving and getting closer. Her body was completely frozen but trembling in terror at the same time and in the middle of her watering eyes, she saw the faint silhouette of Jongdae standing in front of her as a shield and what he said after that, made her grasp unto his shirt.

“Sh*t”

That was the last thing she heard before something shoved her hard violently and strangling a gasp right in the middle of her throat. She was falling and there was pain, a white flash of light that blinded her and then everything was gone.


	6. Blood I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Falling for a vampire wasn’t nearly as glamorous as Yoongi first thought but if she could be certain of one thing, it was that having a vampire falling for her, was definitely beyond thrilling.

Yoongi heard a voice. It was soothing and calm even if she couldn’t make out the words completely. She had to blink several times to clear her mind off the pain and to find herself on the floor, her backpack under her body and it was most likely that either a corner of her laptop or one of her lunch containers, was getting stuck on her lower back. She wanted to curse at Jongdae for pushing her out of the way so hard and raising her head a bit, she rolled to her side with a groan and finally recognized that the soothing voice belonged to her friend.

“Hyung, you know who I am.” He said with a remarkably soft tone considering the situation, “You know I’m an ally.”

In the middle of all the haze in her mind, there was a small dot of white light dancing in front of her and once she was properly seated, Yoongi noticed it was Jongdae’s cellphone flashlight and that it was bright enough for her to take into some of the apartment’s dimensions, some furniture, doors and walls and of course, the rather terrifying figure that moved swiftly from the corner of the room. Jongdae kept on speaking softly to the crouched creature hidden in the dark when she managed to stand up and just like she froze a couple of minutes before, she found herself completely petrified at the sight.

As far as she could see, he was naked and his skin was impossibly pale and stricken by dark lines she couldn’t tell if they were actual cracks or if something black was running through his veins. As the small light trembled in Jongdae’s hand, it looked like his skin was peeling off, not like wounds but more like an old wall with cracked paint. The sides of his neck were almost torn apart as if he’d scratched it with the inhumanly long and sharp claws in his hands but the dark spheres that were supposed to be his eyes, were what kept on her spot and unable to move. There was nothing but emptiness in them. Voids of infinity and still, the only thing she could see on them was the insatiable thirst for blood.

Yoongi couldn’t stop herself from letting out a small squeak. She covered her mouth with her hands but the sound had attracted his attention already. The creature set it’s empty eyes on her, coming closer despite Jongdae’s efforts to keep him at bay and she trembled in fear.

He wasn’t beautiful.

The fiction was wrong.

The books and movies always picture vampires as beautiful and sensual creatures but the shape of his face was sharpened into animalistic and ferocious features that were also twisted in agony and he hissed at her, revealing all of his razor-sharp teeth.

“Yoongi, get the f*ck out of here.”

She looked down to where Jongdae was, fumbling one hand inside the small cooler bag but keeping his eyes on the monster in front of them. Her friend was urging her to move but she was hypnotized by those eyes as he was crouching lower to the floor with all of his muscles tensing in preparation for the imminent attack.

Jongdae cursed at her, throwing something to the creature and that successfully broke its spell over her. She saw then what he had on the cooler bag. Jongdae had been carrying blood packs all that time and it made sense. He was right about his suspicions about what was going on.

What happened next was beyond her. The light was shaking all over the place because Jongdae was moving closer to her and all Yoongi was aware, was the sound of the packs getting torn open and then, the strong smell of fresh blood invaded all of her senses. The sound that came after that, the guttural noises of him slurping every drop of blood, made her stomach churn and soon, revolve in disgust.

He was done faster than she thought and the creature showed up right in front of them, making her and Jongdae stumble back. The light flashed uncontrollably due to Jongdae’s trembling hand and Yoongi shrieked at the blood-stained face that was hissing at them and somewhere in her mind, she heard her friend telling her to run and for the first time in her entire life, she did as she was told.

Yoongi obeyed her instincts and didn’t even look back. She bolted her way out of the apartment, bumping into the door and after a few attempts of getting it open, she burst out of the place, crying. She could hear herself wailing and feel her own heart beating in her ears.

Thankfully, the elevator’s doors were opened as soon as she pushed the button and she had a hard time trying to get the right button to the main floor. When she finally did and the doors were closed, she felt the air around her clamped and heavy and difficult to breathe but the soft tug of the elevator going down made her stomach go up to her chest and gag in reflex. She was barely keeping her stomach’s contents inside when the elevator came to a halt a bit too violently and she couldn’t stop it. She gagged again and her throat burned by the acids coming up and she threw up what it looked like nothing but water.

The doors opened with a soft ping and she stumbled out of the elevator falling to her knees. She heard someone running to her but her body was shaking and forcing itself to grasp some air into her lungs. She coughed and felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she recognized the gatekeeper that was in front of her with a worried expression but something in his eyes told her that he wasn’t particularly surprised by her state and somehow aware of the situation. That notion made her brain speed up again. All of Jongdae’s warnings made sense so the next thing she needed to do was to get out of the building. She had to run away as soon as possible and that was what she did.

Yoongi stood up on her weak legs and pushed the gatekeeper aside, running towards the building’s gate that suddenly appeared to be farther away than she originally thought but that didn’t stop her. She kept running, even when she skipped the entrance stairs by three at the time and didn’t stop when she hit the sidewalk. All of her instincts were screaming at her to keep running, to get as far as she could of that place and it was well into the fifth or sixth block when her feet started to hurt bad.

Limping, she came to a stop. She realized then that she left her shoes at the apartment and that she’d been running in nothing but her kitten socks that were now dirty and ruined. Yoongi was suddenly aware of how tired she was, that it felt like she’d been carrying rocks in her backpack, that even though she wasn’t crying anymore, her heart might burst out of her chest in any moment and the most worrying fact, that she didn’t know where she was. To her good luck, she spotted a convenience store just a block away and feeling slightly relieved, she walked painfully towards it.

She bought a coke. Usually, she would buy a diet one because she always lied to herself that a diet cola was better for her but right at that moment, she needed sugar and tons of it. The cashier gave her an odd look but she was still into a state where she was functioning in pure adrenaline so she didn’t even bother to explain or care for that matter. She paid for the drink, exited the store to take a seat on one of the plastic chairs outside it and fished her phone out of her pocket to order an Uber lift.

Yoongi finished her drink before the car arrived and just like the cashier at the store, the driver gave her a worried look that made her wonder how bad she looked but exhaustion was starting to kick in and she didn’t have the strength to fight it back. How she managed to get into her apartment half an hour later was something she couldn’t remember doing and too tired to even get into her pajamas, she dropped her backpack somewhere and went to bed fully clothed.

She barely slept. This time because the image of those empty black spheres and blood-stained face hissed at her whenever she closed her eyes but she was also exhausted. Of course, she soon fell asleep at some point but her night was plagued with nightmares. Horrid dreams were a monster lingered around her bed, hypnotizing her with its hollow eyes and cutting her skin every once in while to feed on her blood, that of course, before skinning her alive.

It was hard to know if it was a good or bad thing that the next morning came by too soon and when Yoongi noticed the sunlight gleaming through her windows, she practically jumped out of bed and looked around for her cellphone to check the time and found it under the bed only to realized it had run out of battery sometime during the night. Cursing under her breath, she plugged the device and scampered around to get dressed even if she was already late for work.

As she was taking her shirt off, her shoulder itched so she mindlessly scratched it, throwing the shirt somewhere across the room and her phone started to buzz out of control. Taking her pants off, she realized her right thigh was itching too and getting a hold of her phone, she unlocked it to get bombarded with texts and missed calls. She was scratching her buttcheek and kicking the pants off when she saw the time and she was already an hour and a half late for work and cursing and almost throwing her phone away, she stretched to scratch her left shoulder blade, then her neck and then her right boob.

Yoongi grabbed the first shirt she saw and scratched both of her forearms before pulling it down her head but the shirt must’ve had something because all of her back was stinging. She groaned in irritation as she took her laptop out of her backpack and her eyes watered as soon as she opened it up.

The screen was cracked in a million pieces. It took her a few seconds to be able to do something and something deep in her chest dropped when she turned the laptop on and got a weird noise in return. The screen blinked repeatedly and then settled in an uneven grey color that didn’t mean anything good.

Her buzzing phone startled her with an incoming call and she whimpered loudly, scratching her neck quite roughly that she managed to make herself wince and answered the call.

_“You’re late.”_ Her boss said without even greeting her first.

She wanted to cry at how unfair her life was in that exact moment when her chest started itching as well. She scratched the spot so hard, she sobbed lamely on the line.

“I know.”

_“Is everything alright?”_ The editor asked, now with a softer voice.

She had to take a moment to swallow the knot stuck in her throat and to think about her answer because she couldn’t just tell her boss that the guy she liked was a vampire and that he almost ate her alive the previous night so she had to lie. It felt wrong to do so but she had no other option.

“I-I got robbed last night.” She stuttered as she scratched her knee and her eyes watered again when she saw the grey and useless screen of her laptop. “My cell phone died and my laptop completely chattered.”

_“Are you alright? Did you get hurt?”_ Her boss questioned her with a caring tone that was a resemblance to her father’s worried voice whenever something happened to her and she felt even worse for lying to him.

“I managed to run away unharmed, Sr.” She replied softly, “I can’t say the same about my laptop.”

_“Material things don’t matter when your well being is on the line kid.”_ He admonished with such a caring tone, she had to blink her tears away. _“Take the day off. You don’t sound remotely alright.”_

Yoongi wanted to tell him that she wasn’t alright in the slightest way, that she was in fact, afraid of even closing her eyes and on the brink of breaking down and her side started itching as well as her neck and her thigh and even her scalp.

“I can still make it.” She said, trying to scratch every part of her body. “We have a lot of work, I can’t miss a day even if I need it, Sr.”

_“Show up and you’ll get fired.”_ He said shortly and she sat up straight in shock. _“Stay at home, calm down and try to check as many mails you can through your phone.”_

“I will.”

_“Good, see you tomorrow.”_ He said.

Yoongi didn’t have the chance to say anything else before he hung up, leaving her in a miserable silence in her tiny apartment and with all of her body aching and a still very broken laptop.

A day off sounded like a great idea and she was ecstatic at first but after the first half of the day, she wanted to scream. It was a nightmare. Yoongi was on the edge of losing her mind and even if she took a shower and scrubbed every inch of her skin, it was still itching everywhere. Her phone kept on buzzing with text and calls from Jongdae and Yixing, which she didn’t feel inclined to answer either and her laptop was broken. She was still tired and bored and whenever she tried to sleep, nightmares always woke up her and every time, she found herself sweating and wanting to cry.

Food was her only escape. Yoongi consoled herself thinking that as she waited for a bowl of instant ramen to be ready. She scratched her neck once again and with a grimace, she realized that the side of her neck was bleeding from all the scratching when her phone buzzed again. Jongdae’s name flashed through the screen and she rejected the call. She was afraid of talking to him because he would ask about what happened and she wasn’t ready to speak about it yet. Opening her texts screen, she ignored the 17 texts from Yixing and went straight to her friend’s thread that had around 62 unread messages and all of them of the same sort.

_Can you come?_ She sent once she read most of the texts about him asking if she was still alive and threatening her by calling the police and sending them to her place.

** _My god!_ **

** _Is it really that hard to answer a damn call!?_ **

** _Or a f*cking text!_ **

** _Jesus Christ! Are you all alright?_ **

Yoongi snorted because as the devoted Christian he always claimed to be if Jongdae was blurting all that out, it meant he was genuinely worried to care about appropriate language.

_ **PARK YOONGI!** _

_ **Answer me now!** _

_Can you bring food?_

_I got the day off and I’m hungry._

_Like really really hungry_

** _Are you f*cking kidding me?_ **

_I’m starving_

** _I can’t believe this!!!_ **

** _You brat_ **

** _I’ll be there in twenty_ **

** _And you better be alive when I get there_ **

She was about to answer back when a new text from Yixing came in and she just locked the phone and threw it to the couch as if it was suddenly on fire.

Yoongi stared at the cup of instant ramen seating at the counter and debated on what to do. She could eat it but Jongdae was on his way and it was most likely he was going to bring better food than instant ramen. She apologized to the cup and promised that she would eat it later even if the noodles were soggy. Feeling better with her consciousness, she slumped herself on the couch and waited for her friend, still ignoring the unread messages from a certain Chinese and checking her emails from work because, without her laptop, she didn’t have anything else to entertain herself.

Around twenty minutes later, just like he said, Jongdae was knocking on her door, though not as frantically as he sounded through the texts and he relaxed noticeably when she opened the door but it was then that she realized why she ignored his attempts to contact her.

Yoongi felt small and ashamed, and those words weren’t enough to cover how bad she felt for leaving him behind without even looking back. She ignored his calls because of the guilt she felt and if something might’ve happened to him in that apartment, it would be all her fault and the remorse wouldn’t let her live in peace for the rest of her life.

However, he seemed to be alright. She knew he wasn’t a vampire when he barged into her apartment like he always did and Yoongi stared at him as he walked right by her side, trying to get any sign of an injury, even a bruise but he seemed to be more than alright. When he placed a couple of bags he was carrying over the table and turned around to give her a dashing smile, she crushed him in a tight hug that made him laugh.

“I’m fine.” He whispered between his lively giggles that she never thought would make her feel so relieved.

Jongdae wrapped his arms around her shoulders and she relaxed instantly, pressing her head against his chest and taking in the most of his warmth and human scent.

“Nothing happened after you left.” He added softly, making something in her chest quiver.

“I ran away like a coward.”

“I wanted to point out what a lousy friend you are for leaving me behind but I’m glad you did.”

Yoongi frowned at that. He sounded so calm and not bothered at all that it made her shake her head in disbelief that he didn’t seem to realize his life was at risk back there. The picture of the creature flashed in her head and shivering at the memory of everything she saw then, she just hugged him even tighter.

“He could’ve killed you.” She retorted with a pout.

“And there was nothing you could’ve done about it.” He replied, still softly and she felt his hands rubbing her back gently in a manner she recognized was meant to make her calm down and it was working. “You did the right thing.”

“But it doesn’t feel like it.”

Jongdae snickered at her whiny response and releasing her off his hug, she felt his fingers pulling the hem of her shirt a little bit down her shoulder and she knew he had his scrutinizing gaze over her.

“What’s up with all these rashes?” He asked.

“I don’t know but it’s driving me nuts!” She whimpered, breaking the hug and scratching both of her cheeks at the same time.

“When did it start?” He tilted her head to the right to check the side of her neck with his so characteristic _I’m a competent doctor_ frown.

“Yesterday but it itches everywhere and no matter how much I scratch…” She had to stop and roll her eyes when he gave her a scolding look, “I know I shouldn’t do that, I’m not a kid, but it’s annoying and it never stops!”

“I think you’re having an allergic reaction.”

“But I’m not allergic to anything, you know that.” She whimpered again and was about to scratch her neck again when he had his hand clasped around her wrist to stop her.

“It’s more like an emotional stress-related symptom.” He muttered with concern.

Yoongi stared at him and her heart dropped as her brain started working full speed. She had a lot of work and it would be wrong to deny that she wasn’t stressed but it wasn’t to point of crossing the line of making her body act out so bad. The only reason that could’ve to bring a reaction such as the one she was having, was the same matter she was trying to forget.

“You say this is about last night?” She asked in a hushed voice as if she was afraid that anyone could hear and thankfully, he just nodded. “Can you make it stop?”

“It offends me that you ask.” He dropped her hand with an offended scoff that made her smile when he started to move around the tiny apartment.

“Then do your job and fix me!”

Jongdae muttered something under his breath too softly for her to understand but by the pout on his face, it was obvious that he was throwing a silent tantrum and despite all that; having a best friend that happened to be a doctor had its perks because in a matter of minutes and after a quick phone call, there was an out of breath delivery guy knocking at her door, handing over a paper bag with what she suspected was an allergy medicine.

He was mothering her. She knew that by the way, he made sure she took the antihistamine pills for the itchiness and the short yet concise course on how to apply the calamine lotion all over the most affected areas of her skin. He not only took care of that but also brought tons of food, from her favorite ice cream and a whole bag filled with her favorite snacks and candies to beer (which she couldn’t drink after taking the pills) and fried chicken enough for five people from her favorite place. If that wasn’t enough, he even brought flowers and the arrangement was delightful.

Yoongi was nested on the couch, fully concentrated on applying the lotion on her arms when she heard him softly humming his current favorite ballad as he placed the flowers in a big empty coffee can she had forgotten somewhere in her pantry because apparently, she didn’t have anything else that could work as a flower vase and the entire scene was too interesting to miss.

Leaving the lotion on the second-hand coffee table in front of her, she observed him curiously as he’d busied himself around the tiny place because it didn’t matter if it was her or him; junk food, bad movies, and beautiful flowers were part of their dealing with a heartbreak ritual.

“For your information, I didn’t get dumped.” She informed him.

“Hard to know,” he muttered with his back to her as he gave the last touches to the flowers, “you have that kicked puppy face that anyone would think you were.”

Yoongi felt her jaw go slack and stared at his back, wondering what he meant with that but he was looking over his shoulder. There was a sly grin on his face and as soon as she got shocked about his words, she put herself together. He was teasing her and she tried her best to keep an annoyed face when he was just trying to make her laugh and he was really good at that. So good, Yoongi could firmly say that that was one of Jongdae’s best qualities.

When she refused to give him the satisfaction of making her laugh at her own expense, she stood up, extending her lotion covered arms to the sides and with the best indignant expression she could muster, Yoongi left the small living room to her room. She heard him cracking at that but in reality, she just needed to take all of her clothes off so she could also apply the lotion on her chest, stomach, and thighs and she wasn’t going to do that in front of him, even if they happened to be such good friends.

Taking the most worn-out pajamas she owned, she started dealing with the whole process of getting the lotion spread all over her skin and she could hear him singing on the other room and asking from time to time to bring a couple of pillows out of her room when she was done with that. She yelled her answer back and he said something about setting up her laptop so they could watch the movie, and it took her a few seconds to realize what that meant. She was in the middle of pulling the loose and light oversized shirt over her head when the silence in her apartment finally caught her attention so she scampered out of her room, only to find Jongdae seating at the couch with her laptop on the coffee table.

“What happened?” He asked in a whisper.

Yoongi walked towards the couch, sat down right next to him and watched him for a moment. She’d been trying to avoid talking about Yixing or anything related to him but the truth was that traces of what happened that night were all over the place, even on herself. The subject was unavoidable and she could come up with hundreds of different stories about how she got her laptop broken but the crease in his brows that made his entire face look downright regretful, made her change her mind about it. She couldn’t lie to him; not when she had the hunch that he already knew how that happened.

“I think it was when you pushed me last night.” She said softly.

As far as the day went on, she’d managed to push the problem of her broken laptop aside. All she needed to do was to keep it closed and away from her eyes but now that she was looking at the countless pieces of the screen blinking aimlessly, all the feelings were getting back to her.

All of her files were lost. Hundreds of drafts, thousands of notes, articles, manuscripts and a couple of actually finished novel drafts were lost. She felt her eyes stinging with tears and she wasn’t the type to care that much over material stuff but that laptop, all of a sudden, meant the most to her. The fragile device that looked so unbreakable for so long, held not only countless hours of work and dedication, it held her dreams and hopes of becoming a writer.

“Yoongi, I’m so sorry,” Jongdae said and the fact that she’d never heard his voice so genuinely apologetic as in that exact moment, made everything worse.

“Don’t worry, I know you didn’t mean to do that.”

In any other situation, that would’ve sounded right and worked as a perfect excuse for any of them but it didn’t because her voice came out as shaky as ever and as soon as she felt his strong arms around her, the tears finally slipped and she realized how much she was in need of a comforting hug and a shoulder to cry on.

Books always portrayed the distress of Yoongi’s favorite characters as emotional breakdowns that made them burst in ugly crying that wouldn’t stop for anything in the world. She always wondered how would it feel to be so overwhelmed to cry out like that as she’d never gone through anything of that sort but right in Jongdae’s arms, the emotional rollercoaster she’d felt since she met Yixing was hitting her strong and coming out of her in quiet and trembling sobs.

Yoongi considered herself as a rather optimistic person and was always trying to see the brighter side of everything but right at that moment, she wasn’t feeling optimistic, especially when everything she’d worked so hard for, was suddenly lost so she cried long enough to lose track of time. Jongdae let her without saying anything, rubbing her back gently in the meanwhile and if she could compliment him, that would be that he probably was the most comfortable and comforting human pillow in the universe.

Once she stopped crying and was more at ease, Jongdae untangled himself from her and brought out his laptop but Yoongi snuggled comfortably by his side as soon as he was back on the couch. He whined about how clingy she could be but still wrapped an arm around her as he set up the laptop and played the first movie he found.

“I’ll get you a new laptop.” He whispered a few minutes into one of her favorite Disney movies.

“You don’t have to.”

“I do.” He said, leaving a soft kiss on the side of her head. “I shouldn’t have let go up there in the first place so this time, it’s all on me.”

Yoongi wanted to retort at that, to tell him that it wasn’t his fault but before she could do any of that, even sat up straight to argue with his silly reasoning, he had her trapped on a headlock and was ruffling her hair a bit too hard that made her shriek and laugh as she tried hopelessly to free herself from his grip.

“You barbaric jerk!” She grunted. “Let me go!”

“Shut up and watch the movie.” He giggled, having the time of his life.

“You have to let me go first, you idiot!”

Still giggling, Jongdae finally let her go but brushing her fingers through her hair and catching her breath, she stayed in her place and settled herself comfortably at his side, making him snicker. With nothing else to say, they resumed watching the movie in comfortable silence.

“Would you accept a flat screen as a gift if I give it to you?” Jongdae broke that silence a few minutes later.

“Why on earth would you give me a TV?” She asked mindlessly as she munched on the crab snacks he brought.

“You need one,” he replied with an admonishing tone that made her look at him with a raised brow, “because watching movies on a laptop is ridiculous not to say unpractical and annoying.”

“No, I don’t want a tv.”

Jongdae was whining at her refusal but she didn’t care. The last thing she needed was a television. She didn’t even have the time to do so and when she did, she spent it on the internet, most of the time reading about random stuff and details she could incorporate on her stories. Well, that was when she still had a laptop and her cellphone started buzzing before she could get sad about it again.

Not even bothering to move from her snuggle spot on the couch, it was her friend that reached out for the blinking device over the coffee table and she noticed the scowl on his expression when he showed her the name on the screen.

Yixing was calling her. She stared at his name because that was the fifth time in the day and still, she couldn’t find the guts to answer so she just shook her head and tried to focus on the movie again.

“Aren’t you going to answer?” Jongdae asked.

She shook her head again, munching more snacks and waited for his nagging but it never came as in any other case he would’ve tried to convince her to make up with whatever friends she was mad at but now, he didn’t even try. He looked almost pleased with her answer and she could swear, even on the darkness of her living room, that there was a hint of a smile on his lips.


	7. Blood II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Falling for a vampire wasn’t nearly as glamorous as Yoongi first thought but if she could be certain of one thing, it was that having a vampire falling for her, was definitely beyond thrilling.

Yoongi woke up in her bed the next morning with her cellphone’s alarm blaring next to her and she tumbled out of her room in mid-yawn to discover that Jongdae was gone as well as her broken laptop and a sticky note right in the middle of her work board, explaining that he would take the device to someone to try to retrieve her data. With a smile, feeling hopeful and well-rested, she set to start a new day and everything began to fall into the right place by itself.

First, her skin was much better and she stopped taking the pills as the itchiness was suddenly gone a few days later and even if she still had to apply the lotion at nights, the worst scratches were healing without a problem.

Then, and she was enormously grateful for it, was that her nightmares stopped and she was sleeping normally once again. Her mood was also better even if she hated the sneakers she found herself forced to use because she left her favorite ones over his place and always had to shake her head to put that memory aside as soon as it came to her. Yoongi didn’t have time to think about it. There were tons of work to do for the month’s issue that demanded her working extra hours; from getting to the office an hour earlier so she could work on her office’s computer, to the extent of leaving around forty minutes later than her clocking time.

Yoongi was getting back to her normal life but with the normality of a daily routine, also came the calm that made her brain work and her curiosity reach its peak again. It didn’t help her case that Yixing kept on texting her and eventually, she gave up on her resolution to ignore his messages and read every single one of them to get to the conclusion that he was worried about her.

He’d started every day’s text thread, asking if she was alright. When he didn’t get an answer, he’d asked if she was afraid of him and her internal answer was always a yes. As if he could read her mind through the cellphone every single time, he’d apologize and more than once he made it clear that he wanted to explain what happened but wanted to do it personally and not through a text.

His intentions seemed honest to her but Yoongi couldn’t reply to any of the texts. She simply couldn’t find herself doing it because she didn’t know what to answer, even less find the correct words to explain the reason why she was avoiding him so she settled herself to leave that for later and maybe as days went by, she could find some courage to face him again.

By the end of the week, all of that was forgotten when a wide grinning Jongdae showed up at her place with a big box in his arms and flowers over it and she couldn’t believe her eyes. He really got her a new laptop, the latest Macbook Pro in the market better said and he wasn’t even coming into her apartment yet when she was already refusing to accept it but refusing a gift from Kim Jongdae came with a price and that was the sight of him pouting followed by the nagging.

Yoongi didn’t have much of a choice, to begin with, not when he had his index finger raised at her as if he was scolding a little girl. He was begging her to accept the device with a voice that sounded like there was no other option because he was using the classics _“do you have any idea how much I spent on this?”_ and _“you needed a new one anyway”_ argument against her so she accepted it. After all, deep inside she’d always wanted one of those laptops but never managed to afford it so it was a win-win situation.

With a massive grin that was contagious, Jongdae pretty much ran to the couch and started opening the box that held her brand new laptop and proceeded to show it to her and put to shame any MacStore salesperson because he was so excited, he was bragging about it as if it was his own laptop.

After that, Yoongi couldn’t contain her own excitement either, not when he was buzzing around so happily and they were suddenly making a big fuzz around the laptop whenever it did something such as opening a navigator tab successfully but behind all the jokes, the laughs, and the excitement, it was heartwarming that he made sure all of her files, especially all the documents of the many, finished and unfinished drafts were there.

As she navigated through the files, she started to realize that he knew how important all those manuscripts were for her that he made the extra effort to get everything in there and everything was in there, in another format, but still there whatsoever and she looked at him in amazement because right at that moment, he was the coolest oppa on earth.

Jongdae seemed to be pleased with the gift himself and even more so with the bright smile she gave him, of course, he was also complaining already that he deserved at least a hug and getting treated with dinner someday during the week. Laughing at his usual antics, she trapped him in a bone-crushing hug and he was seemingly satisfied enough to hug her back just a tightly as she did and he left the apartment after that.

Once the new arrangement of fresh flowers was carefully set over the center of her coffee table and getting herself comfortable on the couch, Yoongi grabbed her laptop with the utmost care and set it on her lap. She’d never had a Macbook before and she couldn’t help herself but spend a few hours just clicking here and there, fascinating by how well her favorite music sounded through the speakers, a bit overwhelmed by the newest design package Jongdae got installed on it so she could make the covers of her books and overall, delighted with all the new commands and features it had.

A loud sound startled her and she perked up in response because it came from a spot a lot closer than usual. Bella was hissing loudly again as if she was getting into a fight with another cat and Yoongi looked around her apartment, wondering if she would need to step in and stop the furry animal from getting herself hurt. She didn’t like the prospect of dealing with angry cats because she always ended up with her legs and arms scratched but it might’ve not being that bad because nothing else was heard after the initial hisses.

Trying to go back to her computer, she turned up the volume of a new pop song she couldn’t keep out of her head when the doorbell buzzed loudly and she went still. A few seconds later, the buzz was heard again and following a weird hunch, she grabbed her phone and didn’t know what to take about the new messages she found on the screen.

** _I’ll stop by your place today_ **

** _I would like to apologize personally for what happened_ **

** _And it would be awesome to see it for myself if you’re alright_ **

Yoongi looked at her door, knowing that Yixing was on the other side and she didn’t know what to do when her phone buzzed in her hands.

** _I know you’re home_ **

** _I can hear you_ **

She gasped, a little too loudly and instantly covered her mouth with her hand, nagging herself for her always overdramatic reactions and her phone buzzed again.

** _That came out creepy_ **

** _Too creepy_ **

** _Sorry_ **

** _I can hear your music_ **

** _That’s what I meant_ **

** _I’m sorry_ **

She muted the laptop and after she did that, it struck her that probably, doing that was unnecessary, not to say immature and childish but she couldn’t help her nerves and another string of texts came in.

** _I know you’re still there_ **

** _Even if you turned off the music_ **

** _Can you at least open the door?_ **

** _Just hear me out_ **

** _Please?_ **

The only reason she had for not going to the door was that she was afraid of what she could find on the other side. Granted that the creature she saw that night didn’t seem to be the type to send text messages, let alone buzzing her doorbell, it was safe to say that there wasn’t any immediate danger if she opened the door.

Leaving her new laptop carefully next to her freshly cute flowers over the coffee table and tiptoeing her way through her apartment as if he could hear her steps, and he probably did; Yoongi looked over the peephole. He was right there and taking a big intake of air to calm herself down, she opened the door.

Yixing was there. The oversized sweater was replaced by a simple white shirt and the messy fringe was back, making him look just as adorable as ever. It really was him and not the horrific monster of the other night but there was something different at that time. He was glowing or she could’ve been exaggerating about that but Yoongi could see the difference now.

It wasn’t the old lights of her building that made him look sick the other night and she realized that as days went by, his skin was turning opaque and yellowish. His skin now was fair, clean and spotless in a beautiful pinkish tone she’d only seen on a goddess-like actress and she had to fight the urge to run her fingertips all over the soft features of his face.

She nagged herself and the stupid butterflies on her stomach because she was reacting to him again and the way he was looking at her so attentively regardless of what happened. Yixing was observing her carefully and suddenly aware of herself, she shifted a little, hiding the side of her neck that was still scaring from the sole fright of him. She also did that to distract herself from his hypnotic eyes and that was when she noticed that he was holding her favorite sneakers.

“You left them at my place.” He said softly and handed them to her as if they were peace offerings.

“Thanks.” She replied, accepting the sneakers. “It won’t happen again.”

There was no way to explain why Yoongi said those exact words and why she closed the door after that but she did and regretted doing so about three seconds later, completely aware of how rude that was, especially when all he wanted was to give her shoes back and apologize.

Yixing was still there when she looked through the peephole and she saw him scratching the back of his head in confusion and muttering something with an adorable pout that was so unbelievably human that all her defenses were breaking down into pieces.

Opening the door again, his eyes darted up to meet hers and she wasn’t mistaken of the hopeful glint on them but her mind and her heart were in different pages, because when her instinct was replaying the flashes of his ferocious features hissing at her, the fluttering in her chest was succumbing to the apologetic expression in his face and those beautiful yet so intense brown eyes; and the longer she looked at him, the more she realized that the vampire at her doorstep was the adorable Chinese and not the blood driven monster so she stepped aside.

She opted to occupy herself putting her sneakers away, she would’ve followed her instinct and close the door otherwise and when she was on her way to the kitchen, she realized that he was still standing on the corridor and looking at her expectantly.

“Why aren’t you coming in?” She asked.

He froze at the question as if she was scolding him but as far as she remembered and if the legends were true, Yixing could easily come inside her place as she already permitted him to do so.

“Are you sure you want me inside your apartment?”

Something in her didn’t want to answer that with honesty. It was the same sort of feeling that drove her out of the building that night and that kept her from answering his texts but she had to remind herself that in his current form, he was harmless or that was she told herself so she nodded and Yixing stepped in but that was it. One single step inside her apartment as he shoved his hands into his pockets and stood there waiting for another instruction. She simply stared at him, clueless.

“I’m just making sure you’re totally alright with it.” He explained.

It was awkward. Yoongi had never felt as awkwardly aware of herself as she did in the next few seconds after that and judging by the nervous glances he threw at her every once in a while, Yixing was feeling the same.

If that wasn’t enough to make the atmosphere weirder, his eyes spotted the coffee table. She saw the frown forming in his expression at that and ignoring the bad feeling growing inside her, she leaned on the wall for the support she didn’t know she needed.

“You’ve eaten.” She pointed out, making him look at her and the sudden frown on his features was gone.

“Jongdae made sure I ate like a month worth of meals in one go and I kind of got sick of it, if that could happen.” He replied, squirming slightly in his place with a face that reminded her of a whiny child.

“Well, you look better now.” She added because it was the truth that overall, he looked healthier.

“You only care about my looks, aren’t you?”

The scoff that came from him after that question, made her eyes go wide in shock at the change in him, even in his posture. A smirk, that was so dangerous for her, was creeping up in his face that now, more than ever, was over the edge of perfection.

“I feel objectified all of a sudden.” He added, crossing his arms over his chest.

Yoongi stared at him, most likely with a dumb face because simply put, she didn’t have a clue someone could change so dramatically in a blink of an eye.

“I-I was just saying,” She defended herself with a pout, staring down to her cute panda socks, “because I’ve realized it’s a way to know if you’re eating properly.”

She was waiting for another witty reply or a teasing comment but she got nothing but silence and when she looked back at him, he wasn’t where he was before but leaning back against her desk with his head down and his hands gripping the edges nervously. Somehow his posture reflected how unsure she was also feeling but the rant that came afterward took her aback.

“I had my reservations about letting you know what and how I eat because I know it isn’t pretty and I’ve been trying to come to know how much details you would take about it and I would’ve chosen a different approach to show you and then all this crap happened and I could’ve hurt you and I’m a bit embarrassed…I could sue the restaurant.” He finally said, cutting his suddenly desperate rant.

It was easy to say that Yixing didn’t know what to do with himself and her suspicions were proven right when he met her eyes and he looked more than just a bit embarrassed but still tried to smile at her.

“The prices are particularly high because of their fresh meat cuts but that was exactly what happened,” he kept on going, “our steaks weren’t fresh like they said and as yours was well cooked, you didn’t even notice while mine…”

“It made you sick.” She interrupted him, putting all the pieces together.

“Usually, I only need one unlucky person in the wrong place and the wrong time and that would’ve been enough to clean my system but it’s the 21st century,” He explained quite sheepishly. “I wouldn’t do that now.”

Yoongi couldn’t help herself and step away from him instinctively but she had a wall behind her and that only made her look ridiculously slide along the wall and against her bookshelf, getting cornered in there quite lamely. Of course, the action didn’t go unnoticed to him and she saw the twitch in his eyebrows.

“Are you scared of me?”

His expression was screwed but his question and his voice came out soft, filled with worry and almost apologetic, and she couldn’t think in an appropriate answer because she wasn’t actually scared of him as he was right there but whenever he said stuff as he could easily quench his thirst with a poor unlucky human, her body instantly reacted against that.

It was odd that he smiled at her silence and quite brightly too. That smile though managed to make her relax because apparently, he was pleased with that but at the same time, it bothered her that he wasn’t taking her as seriously as she was trying to deal with the whole thing.

“I don’t think you should be happy about it.” She said.

Zhang Yixing was a paradox she couldn’t understand. When he seemed to be upset a couple of seconds before, he suddenly was smiling at her, almost fondly.

“You’re finally listening to your instinct, Yoongi,” He explained with a happy and confident grin that didn’t make any sense to her, “and that’s very good because you’re aware of the danger now.”

But Yoongi wasn’t exactly happy with that. She didn’t want to be aware of what he could do and the last thing she wanted was to go against her sudden incredibly responsible instincts. She wanted to get closer to him and touch him without having every single cell of her body screaming at her to escape. At least not when some other part of her, even if it was small, came to a state of absolute peace whenever he was around.

“The thing is, I still like you, Yoongi.” He broke her train of thoughts, shutting her brain down maybe for the next few days. “A lot more after that night, actually.”

“Why?” She asked, completely flabbergasted.

His smile disappeared but she needed to know why would he still feel attracted to her when she reacted so badly at him to the point of throwing up, avoid him for days and unwilling to hear what he had to say. If she was him, she would’ve taken her own reaction as a blatant insult.

“How do you do that?” He asked, taking her out of her reverie again.

She flinched at the weird intensity of his voice and she noticed his expression finally matched the question because Yixing was staring at her and she’d seen his eyes as intense as they were then just once. It looked to her, that he was completely lost in his own thoughts and troubled ones.

“What is it about you that I suddenly don’t want to keep any secrets from a human?” He kept saying with the same intensity to which Yoongi didn’t know how to react. “You could ask me anything and I would give you everything.”

There was something else implied in his words, Yoongi knew that but she was unable to come up with a reasonable response because she was aware of how insufferable she could be. Her curiosity often came out as an annoying trait to most people, sometimes even to Jongdae. Yoongi knew that about herself pretty well and listening to him saying that took her off guard, simply staring at him dumbly but he was far from being over with his rant.

“You saw me in my real form when I was in pretty bad shape, worst that I’ve been in a while and yet you let me in in your place. You are trusting in me when everything is telling you that you shouldn’t and I don’t know why but that just makes me want to show you how I really look like because all I know is that you won’t look at me as if I’m a disgusting beast.”

Yoongi blinked, completely speechless at all the things he was saying and his eyes widened in what it looked like realization and both of them aware of how desperate his words sounded. Yixing simply stared back at her with expectation but she didn’t have a clue of what to do.

She realized that he might be waiting for her to say something and maybe he wasn’t as terrifying as she first saw him but those annoying instincts were acting out inside her chest again and so far,  
she hadn’t had an internal battle as hard as the one she was facing at that moment.

“This face, Yoongi, it’s just a disguise,” he added with a soft voice that sounded far too sad to her. “What you see now it’s a facade for you and the rest of the world.”

“Show me then.”

What possessed Yoongi to say that? She wasn’t sure. Maybe it was the vulnerability in his voice and his longing to fit in in a world that was different from his and maybe, she was already too familiar with that feeling to not do something about it.

“Are you sure?”

Yoongi nodded, finally leaving the corner she’d have been standing the whole time. She observed him, expecting to see a dramatic and gory transformation but nothing was happening.

Yixing was still leaning on the desk when he lowered his head and stuck his hands under his armpits. It was an anxious gesture amplified by the way he bit down his lip and taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes tightly shut and the atmosphere flickered, like a glitch on a malfunctioning television and in a blink of an eye, the adorable Chinese was gone and the creature of her nightmares was right behind him all the time as if he was just a mask.

And everything was alright. Yixing wasn’t nearly as terrifying as she remembered. His skin wasn’t cracked like that night, still stricken by dark veins and his features were sharpened but the lack of splattered blood made it easier for her that she couldn’t fight the urge and reached out for him.

She felt him flinched at the touch of her fingertips against his cheekbone and Yoongi found herself fascinated by the weirdly -not so cold-, soft texture of his skin but other than that, he remained in the same posture.

“I would like to see your eyes…” he said softly and unsure as her fingers traced the bridge of his nose but stopped when she had a glance of his sharpened teeth, “but if I do that, I might bring you closer and take something away from you against your will.”

Yoongi knew what he was talking about. She’d felt that invisible string pulling her to him against the warning voice in her and the simple thought of him not wanting to do so, made her smile in gratitude.

The vampire in front of him wasn’t the monster her instinct was trying to keep her away from. The black-eyed creature that stayed still and docile, was the gentle guy that liked bunnies and was comfortable in gigantic sweaters, messy hair and wondered what a moon cake tasted like.

It was then, as he kept his eyes shut, letting her see him in his real form that she realized that there wasn’t a single cell in her, not even the smallest part of her that could resist him, and giving the biggest leap of faith, she cupped his face gently between her hands and lifted it so she could see him better.

“It’s alright.” She whispered and his eyes snapped open and stared at her in utter surprise, revealing an entirely new world to her.

Because she’d never seen eyes that marvelous, so black and impossibly dark but that made it easier for her to see the galaxies on them. She could see the infinity of his lifetime, all of his memories like faraway stars impossible to reach, the untold stories, unshared wisdom and the wonders of his whole existence.

“Thank you.” He whispered after what felt years of endless wandering in the vastness of his beautiful eyes.

Yixing took her hands within his, breaking the spell and just as soon as the static affected everything around him, he blinked a few times and it glitched back to normal and Yixing, the adorable Chinese was in front of her again and looking at her with brown and intense yet, still human eyes just like hers and it didn’t matter how much she tried, the further she stared into them, the only thing she could see was herself reflected on them.

“This is so cool.” She muttered in amazement, “It’s like on The Mortal Instruments.”

“What?”

“There’s this book about demon hunters that are called Shadow Hunters and they have this magic spell that hides their nature to humans.” She explained with enthusiasm when he looked completely lost by the reference, “it’s called glamour and I bet it would look exactly as what you just did. Wait, is that what you did?”

“I’m not sure my trick counts as magic, Yoongi,” He said with an amused chuckle. “but I appreciate this, especially coming from you.”

“Your welcome.” She replied absently when she noticed he was still holding her hands and how softly his thumbs were caressing the back of them and aware of how close their bodies were.

“I enjoyed our date even if it didn’t end the way I wanted.” Yixing changed the topic, standing straight up. “I was wondering if you’re still interested in giving me a second chance and go out with me on a more regular basis?”

Now that Yixing had mentioned it, she was suddenly aware of her instincts. What she thought at first were just weird buzzing voices inside her head, she started to recognize them as the pull of survival. It wasn’t that she was seeing things where they weren’t or being paranoid about the attention he was giving her. It was her nature trying to protect her and Yoongi wanted to know if there was going to be a time when the deepest corners of her mind wouldn’t try to make her run away from him.

“My doorman told me you identified yourself as my girlfriend.” He added and she felt herself blush.

Yoongi didn’t blurt out that ridiculous statement expecting him to find out but he did and she refused to look at him, knowing she would only find that amused and mischievous smirk plastered on his face and when she tried to step away from him out of pure mortification, he didn’t stop her.

“I’m not against the idea, you know?” He added and his voice was so soft, she couldn’t stop herself but look at him.

Yixing wasn’t teasing her. There was no mischievous smirk to get under her skin but a subtle smile, intense gaze, and his eyes were so bewitching that soon they were going to be the death of her one day but at that moment, she needed to think. Forcing herself to close her eyes, she stepped back a bit further away from him.

“Are vampires vengeful?” She asked.

Yixing didn’t answer. He seemed to be too confused by the question that he was just staring at her completely lost and somehow looking beyond adorable.

“I guess so.” He replied after a while but he didn’t sound remotely sure about it.

“I mean, if I rather stay friends with you,” She explained, unsure of his reaction, “will you make me pay for rejecting you?”

Yixing blinked at her question a couple of times as if he was processing what she was trying to say and just as slowly as his brain seemed to be working then, a soft smiled flashed across his face and then burst out laughing.

“I’ve been rejected before, you know and I can live with that!” He said between his giggles. “I’m a vampire, Yoongi, not a drama queen.”

“How was I supposed to know that!?” She retorted, ignoring her burning cheeks, “I’m just making sure.”

“I can assure you, I could never force myself to hurt you in that way.”

  
Yoongi felt her heart swelling in warmth at those words and when he closed the gap between them, she got overwhelmed by his presence, at how his hands automatically reached hers and his soap scent that she was starting to relate only to him.

“Ok then,” she croaked before clearing her throat, “just promise me you won’t get sick again.”

She would’ve said something else as he nodded in agreement at her condition if it wasn’t because he was getting closer, aware of how tall he was because she felt weirdly attracted at that height difference, especially when he leaned over her.

“It might be a little weird to you and it’s completely alright if you don’t want to…” He whispered.

“But I want to go out with you again.” She blurted out, still in a daze and getting drowned in his eyes.

“I wasn’t talking about that, darling.”

Yoongi almost gasped at the pet named and how much satisfaction and belonging it made her feel. He was so close, she was holding her breath and her common sense and everything else in her shutting down at the feeling of his soft breath on her skin.

“It looked like you were waiting for something the other night,” He whispered again, his lips dangerously brushing her ear as he said that, “and I wanted too but it was dangerous.”

The tremble that came over her body after those words could have been explained by many reasons but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything, froze in expectation and yet, too stunned to react.

“No.” He said before planting a soft yet cold kiss on her cheek. “I want to do it right,” he whispered again before leaving another kiss on her forehead that had never made her feel that safe in her life, “and preferably during a date and because you are absolutely dying for me to do it.”


	8. Boyfriend I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Falling for a vampire wasn’t nearly as glamorous as Yoongi first thought but if she could be certain of one thing, it was that having a vampire falling for her, was definitely beyond thrilling.

Yixing didn’t waste his chance and took Yoongi out on a date the very next day after revealing his true image to her. Despite all that, she was the same ridiculous bundle of nerves that she was during their first date.

For that night, she wore her favorite, and also only, floral dress and she didn’t miss the full body check out he gave her and the lip bite he wasn’t even trying to hide. Yoongi smiled widely, proud to get such a reaction and excited for what could happen next.

They spent their evening in Myeongdong and just like she suspected, Yixing was the type for going out for a walk during a date and she’d forgotten how nice it was to have someone holding her hand. It was particularly better with him because their hands never got sweaty. His cold hands only made her chilly and despite the warm weather, all she wanted was to cuddle and get closer to him.

For their third date, after coming up with silly excuses to avoid Jongdae’s efforts to go for their regular coffee outings, they went to ride bikes along the Han River. Making more quick stops than was necessary for Yixing to get her whatever snacks he thought were interesting. That didn’t fail to make them argue just in spite of teasing each other. In the end, Yoongi could barely walk due to all the food he got her.

Lastly, for the fourth date, he took her to the movies and that was when she realized Yixing was a big spender. At first, whenever she said she liked something, he quickly offered to get it for her. She was too shy to accept, but as they stood in front of the candy bar at the movie theater, she noticed how leisurely he swept his card not even caring if a maxi combo -which included two big cups of cola, two big buckets of popcorn, nachos with extra cheese and a packet of chocolates- was just way too much, not to say, a waste.

The dates were fun and even if Yoongi always found herself being a bundle of nerves. The moment she saw that beautiful smile of his, she felt at ease and relaxed. Yixing was easy to be with. He proved to have all the qualities of a perfect boyfriend and although she knew she didn’t have the right to complain, she did have one single complaint.

She couldn’t be blamed though. Not when an incredibly handsome vampire was involved, because no matter how much she had been waiting for it happen, whenever he leaned closer to kiss her, her entire body freaked out in sheer excitement that Yixing always mistook as unpreparedness.

He’d chuckled every time, smiling fondly at her when he left a soft kiss either on the top of her nose or on her forehead and even if he was nice enough to not tease her that much about it, she was getting impatient.

Yoongi wanted to be kissed, full on the lips and have her breath taken away by him. She was going to make sure that would happen on their next date at his place. She was so determined to get her kiss, that she even spent a whole lot more than she usually would on a new blood-red lipstick.

She was almost skipping her way out of the beauty shop with her purchase in hand when Yixing called her to inform that his doorman was aware of the new status of their relationship and that she shouldn’t have any problem getting into his apartment. Yoongi came to a sudden halt, feeling offended at that.

“Is that how are you asking me to be your girlfriend?” She asked, trying to sound as disappointed as she could through the line, “I’d thought vampires were hopeless romantics.”

_“And I thought it wasn’t healthy to put labels so soon in a relationship.”_

“Oh shut up, Yixing!” She snapped in mortification as the sound of his giggles cut through the call.

Yoongi wasn’t even annoyed at his mischievous antics and teasing. Actually, that side of him only brought out her playful side and encouraged her to think in the many ways she could get back at him. As a result, that only made her squeal and giggle at the prospect of finally having a boyfriend that didn’t mind fooling around with her.

When she arrived at the luxurious building later that evening, she went in quite hesitantly and remembered Jongdae walking in through just as if he owned the place. But Jongdae was Jongdae. The rules of life couldn’t be applied to her in the same way because for all she knew, there was a possibility that he genuinely owned the entire building.

“Good evening, Miss Park.” The doorman welcomed her from the distance.

Greeting him back in a whisper, unsure of what was the normal thing to do, she stopped by the counter. Her mind went blank for a second because the man in an impeccable black suit that had thin white details on the edges of his coat was expectantly smiling at her. He knew that she was Yixing’s girlfriend now. For some weird reason, the thought was unsettling, especially when it was unclear how much he knew about the vampire.

“I came to see Yixing.” She informed the doorman.

“Of course. Suit yourself, Miss.” He responded with an automatic smile as he extended his arm towards where the elevator was. “I think you know the way to the top floor, right?”

Yoongi nodded with a small, slightly more confident smile but even if the man was showing nothing but signs of utter politeness, when she looked at him more thoroughly, all she found was a wary look and the gesture wasn’t comforting.

If that wasn’t enough to make her a bundle of nerves already, when the elevator's doors closed behind her, a sudden realization started to sink in inside her chest. The warning whispers that always tried to keep her away from her, now vampire, boyfriend were a feature almost forgotten. That was until she was inside the silent metal box that seemed to amplify her instincts and she felt her nerves reaching its peak.

Yoongi was willingly going back to the place where her worst nightmares started but she didn’t let herself hesitate. Stepping out of the elevator, she walked through the hall, straight to the simple black door. Before ringing the bell, she pulled her mirror out of her purse and liking the way she looked that night, or maybe it was just the lights and her mirror favoring her looks, she smiled at her reflection and applied one more coat of her new and vibrant red lipstick.

The noises of a certain male squealing behind the door reached her ears a couple of seconds after she rang the bell and a smile automatically slipped to her face when he opened it. Yoongi felt herself smiling like an idiot when he displayed the same excited smile but she saw that smile waver a little and how his eyes stared down to her lips.

“Do I need to get invited to come in too?” She asked mischievously when she realized that his entire attention was fixated on her red lips.

Yixing let out a snort but let her in nonetheless. As she took her shoes off, she noticed the suspicious look he gave her for a split second. Yoongi couldn’t help herself but bite her lower lip in pride in the reaction she was getting. The overly expensive new lipstick was definitely worth every cent she spent on it. All of the excitement was gone the moment she walked through the entry hall.

She tried to control the swarming memories but it has been about three weeks since she ran away from the darkness of that place. Considering the sudden hesitation and nervousness of his stance, the distance between them and his hands shoved into his pockets, it looked like Yixing was aware of what was going through her head at that moment.

Yoongi looked around, finally taking in the details of the place and she could say it was sophisticated and oddly cozy despite its white walls or the floor to ceiling windows. To her left, she found a living room with a gigantic black couch that could nest comfortably at least a dozen people and the fluffy rug on the floor, in a lighter tone of grey, looked just as soft as the couch. An equally gigantic flat screen was set up in front of it and there were half a dozen different video game consoles on the cabinets around the screen and a fancy multilevel crystal coffee table with a small black flower pot that had an almost comical, tiny plant.

The place was entirely lit up with warm lights. She wondered how was it possible to have such a wrong impression of it once when now, everything looked so welcoming and just as inviting as his presence always felt.

Reminding herself that things were different and that Yixing wasn’t the monster that haunted her dreams, she started to walk around the place with the vampire following her silently. That was enough to relax the two of them.

Of course, she didn’t dare to venture herself further into the apartment and he seemed to be too preoccupied with her reaction to actually do something. He simply stayed in his place, watching her as if he was expecting something to happen but it was when Yoongi stared back at him that he was brought back to his senses.

“Oh, sorry, darling,” He perked a little and bowed with a small and shy smile, “I didn’t ask. Would you like something to drink?”

He walked towards the kitchen awkwardly when Yoongi accepted a glass of water, it wasn’t out of sheer politeness. She really needed something to swallow down her nervousness. He was quite hesitant to move around the kitchen as she followed him in silence and she had a hard time hiding her shock.

The kitchen itself was bigger than her entire apartment. The white countertop of the kitchen island shone at her, impeccable against the dark cabinets and her eyes set on another set of black flower pots that had many types of tiny plants she’d never seen before over it. Other than that, and the three stools around it, the kitchen looked empty and unused. She also noticed that maybe, his hesitation didn’t come entirely out of nervousness because the moment Yixing handed her a crystal bottle, she chuckled in amusement.

Yoongi wasn’t entirely sure if the whole thing was that funny to begin with, as she stared at the fancy, obviously imported, water bottle in her hand, and her silly and curious mind really wandered at the idea when instead of a mundane glass of water, she got an expensive water bottle that had a label in a language that was nothing but gibberish to her.

“Where is this from?” She asked innocently as she tried to gather her thoughts.

“Finland, I think.” He replied just as unfazed as she tried to sound and grabbing a bottle himself to check if he was correct. “It’s supposed to be the most refreshing and vitalizing water in the world.”

Now she wanted to laugh. She didn’t even know how he fed himself and she was holding a water bottle she couldn’t get at any convenience store in the immediate vicinity and considering that simple fact, a part of her started to wonder if he even had any cutlery. Yoongi guessed he most likely wouldn’t even have a plastic cup like any other normal human being would but then again, why would he?

Suppressing a snort, Yoongi unscrewed the cap and took a sip. She had to take a moment to calm herself because the taste of the water she just drank was beyond any other flavor she’d ever tasted in her life. It was refreshing to the point of being transported to a magical water spring hidden in the middle of a cold and wild Finnish forest. She didn’t want to sound ridiculous or look childish in front of the vampire so she just took another gulp of that delicious water before screwing the cap back on. She looked at him with a single brow raised, waiting for him to say what was coming next.

“Can I be honest?” He said quite suddenly, leaning on his elbows over the kitchen island in a manner that looked innocent to her eyes. “I wanted to have your dinner ready but I still don’t know what’s your favorite dish or at least not for a night in.”

“What did you have in mind?” She asked, mirroring his posture more to calm the pterodactyls fluttering inside her stomach.

“Ordering whatever you feel like eating.” He replied.

Yixing said that with shrug and it was supposed to be a very relaxed gesture but, he brought out a messy stack of papers out from under the counter and displayed them in front of her with a frown of concentration she hadn’t seen on him so far. It was undeniably attractive. That was until she was aware of what those papers were and that expression went from sexy to adorable in a blink of an eye.

“Did you go out and gathered flyers of every single restaurant nearby that offers delivery service?”

Her boyfriend just hummed in agreement, apparently unaware of the teasing in her tone as he read the menu of a Mexican place. She couldn’t make fun of that. Actually, she was glad that they were standing on opposite sides of the big kitchen island because the pterodactyls inside her went crazy. She tried not to squeal in delight at his thoughtfulness, at the adorableness of his entire posture completely focused on the menu, and at his puckered lips as he tried to read the names of the dishes. She had to do something to distract herself so she took a few flyers in her hands.

The options were so infinite that she didn’t know what to order. From Korean food, fried chicken, pizza, hamburgers, Mexican food, pasta, Chinese food, Greek food, shawarmas, kebabs, sushi, Vietnamese woks, and even a few bakeries and bubble tea shops; and the longer she looked through the flyers, the more indecisive she felt.

“We should get Chinese food.” She suggested.

Yoongi simply discarded all of the other flyers and kept one from a Chinese restaurant that had the phrase  _ **_The Great Kingdom of Deliciousness_** _ with big, bold and yellow letters. When she was about to show it to him, she caught Yixing looking at her in that curious and fascinated way that never failed to make her feel like a useless pile of goo.

“This one sounds good to me.” She added and her voice sounded a lot more affected than she wanted.

“Anything else?” He asked, taking his phone out of his pocket with a knowing smile that was definitely doing something to her. “What about dessert? If you want, I can order some of those colorful round cookies that are so on trend now.”

Yoongi agreed to everything he said and watched in utter amusement at how his face went from looking completely lost and baffled, not even able to provide an opinion on any dish, even more so when he was on the phone, with a confused panicked expression. To save him from the torture, she butted in on the call and even if she didn’t know what the dishes were made of, she asked for the pack number 8 for two.

He let out a relieved sigh when he hung up and before she could even laugh at him, Yixing was already dragging her out of the kitchen to give her a tour of his apartment. He curiously made his room the first stop.

“It’s huge.” She breathed out in shock.

The place itself wasn’t what brought such a reaction from her, but the imposing and abnormally big bed at the far end of the room. Yoongi was sure it had to be custom made and she couldn’t stop herself from skipping to it.

“Do you sleep here all by yourself?” She asked, running a hand over the softest white comforter she’d ever seen.

The presence she felt so suddenly right next to her and the firm hand that held her by waist startled her but the whispered words against her ear were what made goosebumps erupt throughout her skin.

“You can join me if you want.” His voice said with a seductive hint that reached every corner of her mind and made her blush and shiver at the same time, “Though I must warn you, I like to sleep naked.”

That was information Yoongi didn’t request for a very good reason. Judging from the obvious amusement in his voice, she was starting to suspect that he found a particular pleasure in it. He was just teasing her.

“Stop teasing me.” She whined with a pout and an elbow to his stomach.

Yoongi untangled herself from his arms and was walking out of the room in an overly dramatic manner. She expected his reaction to being just the same considering how playful he was, but he wasn’t following her. When she looked over her shoulder, she found him standing still and with a frown on his face.

Her playful side died down almost instantly and suddenly, he was in front of her. He was towering over her and her only coherent thought was that he was tall and manly, and his scrutinizing eyes were looking into the deepest parts of her. That was until his eyes moved around her face and stopped on her lips.

“You started it.” She heard.

Yoongi gasped because apparently, her incredibly attractive boyfriend wasn’t as immune to her teasing as she first thought and the quiet squeak she let out in triumph, made him roll his eyes and point a scolding finger to her.

That didn’t mean he was mad at her, it was the other way around. He was holding her hand again and the way he softly slipped his fingers through hers and drove her around to the main hallway of his apartment, made her feel the happiest she’d felt in a long time.

“I’m slightly disappointed,” She said before her thoughts and ridiculously mushy feelings could get the best of her, “I was expecting to see a big coffin in the middle of the room.”

“I still can’t understand why a coffin though,” He replied with a disgusted face that made her giggle, “because beds are really nice.”

Yoongi laughed. Of course, the beds were nice. She would believe exactly the same if she or any normal person in the world could have that magnificent bed and those impossibly soft comforters of his.

“It would be soil.” He said out of nowhere.

“What?”

They weren’t walking anymore. Yoongi realized they were back in the living room and Yixing looked around quite shyly. She followed his gaze and just then, she noticed in every corner of the place, all of the big and black stylized planters that had different types of shrubs and bushes that certainly gave a lot of color to the overall somber atmosphere of the apartment.

“It will sound weird to you but if I could choose somewhere to lay down and relax, you know, where I can actually feel calm and rest,” He added with a shy voice, “it would be soil.”

Yoongi didn’t know what to think for a moment but something in her brain started to work out all the clues and loose ends and suddenly, everything started to make sense and as if on cue, she recognized the smell that went unnoticed for her for a while. It was the same smell, barely as strong, but that almost made her choke that awful night when she saw him as an actual vampire for the first time. It was a woody and earthy scent that came from him when he was close to her during their first date and that she was starting to find extremely masculine.

“I told you it was weird.” He mumbled in embarrassment.

Yixing was dragging her again, going around the couch and she noticed his sudden silence and how he avoided looking over his shoulder. Yoongi, on the other hand, knew he was feeling embarrassed but couldn’t understand why. His admission was indeed weird but he was a vampire, everything he was, was weird already.

“Here is where I spend most of my time.” He cut her reverie.

They were standing in the corner, in front of the wall on the far end of the living room. To Yoongi that was even weirder but, when he placed his hand on the wall, it gave in easily, revealing a hidden door. Her nerves and excitement had never been higher.

Maybe, in the very back of her mind, Yoongi was expecting to see a dark and dirty dungeon, but they were simply walking through a narrow corridor. It was so narrow, two males side by side couldn’t go through. Adding to that, there was also something weird in the air in the small space, as if every sound, starting from her own breathing, was amplified somehow. However, they simply reached another door and Yixing opened it, leaving her completely speechless.

The place he spent most of his time in was none other than a recording studio. She didn’t know a thing about music; it had never been her forte, but it was obvious that she was stepping into a very professional studio. She gaped at the place in surprise. If she thought the atmosphere in the corridor felt clustered, right in the studio with everything being soundproof, felt a little bit claustrophobic.

“It has an independent entrance for any clients and people I’m collaborating with, even if it doesn’t happen that often.” He said, still holding her hand and Yoongi didn’t miss the disappointment in his voice.

The place was so big that it was divided into two. The side they came in through was cozy and warm with its carpeted floor, comfy chairs and candles. It also had a big brown couch that looked even comfier than the one in the living room and right in front was the console with hundreds of buttons and switches. Yoongi had never seen a piece of equipment as big as that one and the computer screens on each side of a big and crystal clear window and another big flat screen above it, made everything look even more impressive.

It was the weird patterns on the wall at the other side of the window that caught her attention. Yoongi had to get even closer to the console to get a better look at the wavy patterns on the grey walls and the purple details around the room. She noticed then, that it was even bigger. She saw the mic stands, drums, pianos, and guitars set up all over the place and she understood what he meant. If she had such an amazing and well-equipped workplace like this but couldn’t boast about it nor even used it in its full capacity, Yoongi would’ve been just as disappointed as he was.

“I’d like to show you some of my songs,” he said.

Yoongi diverted her attention from all the weird things around the studio to focus herself on her boyfriend but it looked like he wasn’t expecting that. He was the shy Chinese guy with sleeve paws that seemed to be too flustered and self-conscious by the sudden attention.

“If that’s alright with you, of course, y-you don’t have to—” he mumbled.

“Sure,” she said lightly with her best smile and that was enough.

The contented grin she got in response was beautiful. Yoongi didn’t have much to do against him smiling at her like that but to admire and mirror his expression, feeling even more proud at managing to get that smile all for herself. Sadly, the moment didn’t last for long because the doorbell resonated throughout the place.

Her shy Yixing was replaced by a weird version of himself that was like a little kid. He was still holding her hand but seemed surprisingly excited to get the door. She saw in a blur, the quick exchange between him and the delivery boy and how his eyes widened at the substantial tip her boyfriend gave him. Yoongi didn’t bother to say anything when he was that excited.

“You can grab another drink from the fridge, suit yourself, darling.” He said out loud while getting himself busy, opening the bags of food.

Yoongi would never admit that she was glad he was giving her the freedom to look over the fridge and she convinced herself that it was totally alright if she decided on getting another bottle of that fancy Finnish water. She didn’t care if it didn’t go along with her Chinese food. She was getting that water. Period.

The snort that came out of her as soon as she opened the door wasn’t intentional but it was hard not to react in any way when the fridge was filled with drinks of all kinds. Just like the flyers, the options were too many, from beer, juice, soda, milk, yogurt, tea, coffee to some other stuff she didn’t know what they were; and all of them in national and imported brands. Yoongi even suspected that if she opened the pantries, they would be also filled with snacks of every type.

“It’s for the visits, though I don’t get nearly as many as I would like.” He explained when she was simply standing still without a clue of what to get.

“I don’t know why I was expecting to find blood packs in here.” She joked, grabbing a bottle of green tea.

“Those are just for safety measures and Jongdae is the one that has them.” He explained as he set up plates served with her food all over the island counter. “I keep my reserves somewhere else.”

Was it weird that she didn’t know what to say in those cases? Because Yoongi wasn’t able to find something to say whenever he talked about his diet. It was still surreal for her that he was talking about blood so casually that Yoongi decided it was better to settle herself on a stool.

As she eyed the different dishes, her mouth watered at the sight because food was always a good distraction for her. Yoongi forgot about the blood subject quite instantly and clasped her hands in front of her and closed her eyes ready to give thanks for the delicious food that was making her stomach growl in anticipation.

The prayer for her food was short and straight to the point and it was a common sight whether she was at her parents' or the Kim’s. Yoongi was so used to it that she always prayed for her food even if it was more out of habit than anything else. She liked to think that there was something up above that always supplied for the means to get food no matter how much she’d struggled in the past because so far, she’d never starved.

She was thankful but the deep silence around her made her open her eyes only to find Yixing staring at her. His head was slightly tilted to a side in utter curiosity and she felt herself blushing.

“Sorry.” Yoongi apologized in embarrassment and immediately stuffed her mouth with fried noodles.

“Don’t be, darling.”

Yoongi was too mortified to fuss about the pet name or even look at him when his voice sounded that gentle. Getting caught doing something as childish as praying for her food by no one else but a creature that probably didn’t fit on the standards of religion, was embarrassing and the silence wasn’t helping her.

“Do you believe in God?” She dared herself to ask.

“No.”

“Do you believe in anything?”

She might’ve regretted asking that question when he didn’t answer right away. Yoongi looked up to see him squirm a little in his stool, his brows furrowed and even if it felt too heavy and serious of a matter, now she wanted to know.

“I can’t.” He finally replied and his voice was somewhat harsh and reproachful. “It’s hard to do so when you’ve lived for so long.”

Yoongi wanted to smack herself in the face. She didn’t need to be a genius to know that the question managed to upset her boyfriend and it was hard not to feel down because of that. The worst part was trying to find something to lighten up the mood but the further she analyzed his words, the more she realized there was nothing she could do.

“You don’t have to come up with a logical explanation for this. That’s how things are and…” He added, opening her tea bottle and serving it in a glass. “…I think you’re very lucky to be able to believe in something bigger than yourself. I kind of envy you.”

“Do you think is it naïve?”

“Don’t ask me stuff like that,” Yixing replied almost as soon as the question left her lips. “We see life in very different lights, Yoongi, you in a particularly brighter one and I like that about you.”

If they weren’t talking about something so serious, she might’ve blushed but Yixing was eyeing her food instead. Before she could say something, he grabbed a piece of chicken kung pao from her plate. He lifted the chopped piece of chicken to his face and even if she knew he wouldn’t eat it, she was coming to understand that the intensity in his eyes was telling her something else.

“Yixing, you promised me not to get sick again.”

“I know,” He whined out. “but the way you’re eating it—”

“What’s wrong with the way I eat?” Yoongi demanded.

“It looks like it’s the best meal in the world.” He explained with a smile as he put the piece of chicken back onto her plate.

“Not sure if the best in the world but it’s really good. They’re up to their name.” She sighed out in relief suddenly aware that she had been holding her breath.

“What does it taste like?” He asked, leaning closer, a genuine curiosity gleaming in his eyes. “You’re a writer, describe it to me.”

“How does blood taste to you?” She asked instead as his expression twisted in confusion. “I mean, for me, blood it’s bitter and with a metallic aftertaste. How is it for you?”

Yixing looked baffled. He was quiet for a while and his entire body tensed. It was one of those moments when her boyfriend swung from one mood to another way too quickly for Yoongi to follow. When he finally answered her question, she was the one that was caught off guard.

“Sweet.”

“What?”

“It is sweet, Yoongi,” Yixing stressed out with a tone that was severe and matched the darkness in his eyes. “Blood is sweet.”

She let out a little sound, restrained and confused and a little scared. Other than that, Yoongi was too shocked by the idea of blood being sweet to keep her mind on track. She was thinking of the corn syrup mix that some low budget horror movies used as fake blood. Maybe, blood tasted like honey to him. The thought gave her chills, so she had to pull herself together again.

“I don’t know how this tastes like,” She added after a while, “I mean, it’s just chicken and chicken tastes like… chicken. How am I supposed to describe something if your only reference is blood? Especially if it tastes the opposite of what I know! How the fu—”

“Don’t get all riled up because of this.” He interrupted her rant placing his hands over hers. “I was just curious about it, don’t worry.”

But there was no way she was going to calm down now that the idea was in her head. She needed to have an answer to his question because now, even her own curiosity had been picked on. Yoongi would’ve kept on trying to come up with an accurate description of how chicken tasted if it wasn’t for him and his cold hands, bringing her out of her reverie.

Yixing took her chopsticks out of her suddenly strong grip then grabbed a piece of chicken from her plate and offered it right in front of her face. He was smiling softly and moving the piece of food lightly, prodding her to open her mouth and eat it.

She couldn’t help herself but chuckle, well aware that some weirder and more embarrassing noise might’ve come out of her if she didn’t. She blamed all of her previous boyfriends that were absolute jerks. All of them idiots enough to never dared to do something as simple as feeding her because that would’ve tainted their masculinity or that was what they always said.

There he was though, right in front of her, a thousand-year-old vampire that probably saw the world shaped itself. A creature that could’ve snapped her neck with a flick of his finger the moment she found about his true nature. A guy that liked bunnies, that longed to taste mooncakes, and that was smiling expectantly at her to take the piece of chicken into her mouth. Yoongi opened it and the bright smile that lit up his face was enough to erase her worries and without notice. They just kept on having dinner.

They spend their time chatting about her day at the office and laughing about some funny videos he saw online. Yixing kept himself occupied feeding her but they were back at the studio before she could finish her food because he was suddenly excited like a little kid again. On the other hand, she wasn’t counting on her excitement getting on the edge when she sat on the couch.

The sudden realization struck her. They were alone in a place where no one could hear them. Yoongi realized then that she could get her kiss at any moment just like she wanted but she was also aware that her body might get too excited after that.


	9. Boyfriend II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Falling for a vampire wasn’t nearly as glamorous as Yoongi first thought but if she could be certain of one thing, it was that having a vampire falling for her, was definitely beyond thrilling.

“Did it hurt?” She asked in an attempt to distract her hormones. “When you were turned, I mean.”

“I can’t remember.”

“Anne Rice describes it as a very painful transformation because the body dies slowly during the process before it freezes like a marble statue.”

“I can’t remember how I was turned.” He grumbled, his back facing her as he set up some wires and his laptop next to the couch.

Yoongi managed to distract herself but she had the suspicion that something was wrong because her boyfriend, all of a sudden, didn’t sound particularly comfortable talking about the subject. She stayed quiet and simply observed him tapping on his laptop until a soft melody filled the atmosphere inside the recording studio.

Trying hard to keep her curiosity on hold, she stayed in her place in silence, wondering how much he could actually remember about his past when the couch dipped next to her.

Yixing was getting himself comfortable with his back against the armrest and she felt herself blushing when he wrapped his arms around her and too easily for her liking, he moved her to sit in the space between his legs.

Suddenly, Yoongi was completely nested and snuggled against him. He had one arm firmly around her waist and the other, brushing her hair behind her ear and everything he was doing, was comfortable, gentle and intimate like she had never experienced before.

“All I remember is pain and waking up alone, buried in a muddy cave.” He finally whispered with his eyes closed.

“That’s it?” Yoongi asked with a frown, unable to stop herself.

“Yes, nothing else before that.”

She wanted to ask more about it but she was almost sure that Yixing was trying to distract her as she could feel his nose nuzzling her hair and his cold fingertips grazing her cheek so softly, it felt like they were burning her reddening skin.

“Did you try to find out?” She asked and she felt him nod despite how overwhelmed she was feeling by his touch. “And? What did you find out? Were you the only one?”

“I gave up soon.” He replied just as softly, as his hand lowered down the side of her neck.

Yoongi wanted to snort because she was so close to giving up herself any second if he kept on doing whatever he was doing.

“Getting to know my past was leading me to places with no exits and to people that weren’t the best kind of people. I was getting myself into trouble so I stopped before I ended up killed.”

With that, she brushed off the tingling sensation of his fingers on her skin and her eyes snapped open. Yoongi stared at him in disbelief that he would give up so easily at the prospect of finding out about his past.

“Aren’t you still curious?” She asked.

“Not really.” He replied with a light shrug.

It might have been the stunned yet incredulous expression on her face that made him laugh. Giggling, he shifted her a little more so he locked his arms around her and her head was comfortably resting against his chest. Yixing was comfortable. His body felt nice against hers and he didn’t seem to be bothered by her weight.

Yoongi lost interest in the music playing because of their conversation until they were engulfed by silence when the song came to an end. Then, she was aware of the overwhelming silence that let her hear what she thought was impossible. It was a soft and almost unnoticeable sound but it was there and the fact that it was there in the first place, amazed her.

She was listening to his heartbeat. Yixing once said he had a beating heart and she never gave a second thought to that fact, but as she lied against his chest, she could hear a thump so soft and slow, and maybe a little out of pace. It was a sound so rare and unique that all she wanted was to treasure it for herself and herself only.

As soon as the next song started, the sound of his heartbeat was gone, completely overpowered by an actual melody. She knew that melody. How could she forget that song when it brought memories that were now embarrassing to her?

“I know that song!” She squealed, sitting up in disbelief.

“You do?”

“I know it sounds lame but it was the hit song of one of the best summers of my life.”

Yixing chuckled at her explanation but as adorable as the sound was, the memories of that middle school boy certainly ruined what made that song such a good one. It was in her last year of middle school when she had not only her first boyfriend but also her first heartbreak and the first big drama of her life.

“My first boyfriend.” She explained with an embarrassed pout. “He was obsessed with that song so, of course, I liked it too.”

“It didn’t end well, right?” He asked.

She nodded, feeling like a ridiculous school girl all over again even if there wasn’t a hint of mockery in his voice. Almost as if on cue, his hands were on her, bringing her back closer to him again and somehow, that simple gesture managed to ease her sudden bad mood.

“Good thing the song will get a new meaning tonight.” He whispered against her cheek before planting a kiss in there.

“Why?” She squeaked, suddenly aware of how close they were.

“Because I wrote it, darling.”

Yixing burst out laughing when she scampered out of his grip to go to his laptop and replay the song. That laughter turned into giggles when she was back, cuddled against him and he didn’t need to help her to get comfortable again. Actually, he wasn’t even complaining when she wrapped his arms around herself.

Once Yoongi found her perfect spot, she listened to the song with all of her attention, aware that the man that wrote the lyrics was the same one leaving soft kisses on her hair and overall being incredibly gentle with her but he was right. The meaning of the song was changing as she sang along every word that, years ago, made her heart flutter. She never thought her heart would flutter again but for completely different reasons.

“You could’ve shown this song to Jiho and shut him up for the rest of his life.” She pointed out when the song was over, making him chuckle. “What else have you been doing to earn a living? Has it been music all this time?”

Yixing stayed silent for a while. She didn’t mind. She couldn’t when he was caressing her and leaving soft kisses on her temple just like he did to that white bunny a few weeks before. Then, in the middle of her hazy thoughts, she started to worry if she asked something she wasn’t supposed to ask.

“My earliest memory is about an old couple.” He finally said.

He had his arms around her but Yoongi noticed then how calm and still he was. He wasn’t leaving kisses on her skin anymore. She felt him take a deep breath and that brought to her a sense of awareness that what he was about to say was extremely important.

“They were the ones that found me and took me under their wing even knowing what I was.” He started and she’d never heard his voice that solemn. “He was a healer and she was an herbalist. Once they helped me to control myself, they taught me everything they knew and many years later, she died in her sleep. Out of pure grief, he followed her the next day. I was left with everything they had.”

That must’ve happened centuries ago. That old couple, as nice as they were, were forgotten in the echoes of history and yet, she could feel in his voice the weight of what they did for him.

Her mind was racing to find some comforting words but she couldn’t find any. Yoongi didn’t know what it was to lose someone close. She still even had all of her four grandparents but then, a memory came to her. Jongdae hinted that he was a doctor.

“You became a healer.” She pointed out in awe and he nodded. “Were you good?”

“The best in the province.” He smiled at her even if it was a sad one. “My nose helped a lot.”

“Your nose?” She wondered in a whisper and her fingers instantly reached for his face and letting them stroke the sharp bridge of his nose like she always fantasized about.

“I can smell some diseases, hear what’s wrong in the heart and lungs, not to mention the taste of sick blood.” He explained and she noticed how his expression started to relax. “Being a vampire was coming in handy.”

“That’s so cool,” Yoongi said under her breath but unable to take her eyes off him in absolute wonder and making him snicker in amusement.

“Yeah, it was, but it was also attracting people’s attention.”

“Did they find out that you were a vampire?” She asked.

“I left before they could.” He replied with a smug smile that she found downright sexy. “I traveled around China, healing people. I spent a few years treating the war wounds of a great general until he sent me to his master, the emperor.”

“No f*cking way! You were the Royal Physician?” She asked.

Because Yoongi knew that in those times, any member of the royal family was considered a divinity and having a glimpse of them was practically impossible.

“It was a simple eventuality, Yoongi.” He added, a smirk still plastered on his face and she felt her mind going to embarrassing places in her imagination. “Something serious enough to bring doctors from across the country but nothing big enough to restrain me within the walls of the palace.”

“Bring doctors from across the country? How’s that a simple eventuality?”

“The Emperor was having some issues with the absorption of the yin released by his favorite concubine.” He explained with a mischievous smile. “He almost had her beheaded because she was taking all of his yang and causing the inner imbalance of his nature.”

“What?” She asked in genuine confusion but Yixing only burst out laughing. “I don’t understand! Why are you so suddenly talking about the yin and yang?”

“It was believed back in the day,” He started but Yoongi could see how much he was struggling to keep a straight face. “that when a man and a woman engaged in sexual intercourse, ejaculation was considered as the man’s release of his yang and the woman’s orgasm was the yin and through absorbing her yin, that was enough to strengthen his yang back out.”

“And he wanted to cut her head off!?” Yoongi screeched, sitting up in annoyance while her boyfriend finally broke out laughing once again. “What a jerk! If he can’t please his lady the right way, why does she have to die!? She was causing the inner imbalance of his nature my ass! Please tell me you cut his balls off, Yixing.”

“What?”

“He doesn’t deserve to have a penis if he blames the poor girl on his premature ejaculation.”

“No, I didn’t.” He said, choking on his own giggles. “We are talking about emasculating the Emperor of China, darling.”

Before she could retort, she felt his arms around her and wonder how it was so easy for him to move her around because she was suddenly with her back against the soft texture of the couch. Yixing was hovering over her. She had to do something and for some weird reason, Yoongi reached out for him only to have her hand flat against his chest. Everything was suddenly chaos inside her body. Her heart raced at the excited spark in his eyes and the satisfied smile on his face that made her forget everything.

“It gave me a certain reputation that helped me to have a comfortable life for a while.” He said and Yoongi had a hard time remembering what he was talking about. “But one day, many, many years after that, I crossed paths with a group of traveling artists and I joined them as their physician.”

“Why?” Yoongi demanded.

Her voice was more affected than she thought, and her boyfriend looked at her with a frown as if he didn’t know what was going on with her. She couldn’t be blamed when her hands were taking in the feeling of his chiseled and firm chest.

“I mean,” She said after clearing her throat. “if you were making a living and solving the goddam emperor’s sex problems, why did you leave that? The life of a traveling circus sounds a bit scruffy if you ask me.”

Yoongi managed to gather her thoughts successfully and expected to hear his laugh in response or at least a chuckle but she got none of those. The silence was deafening and it wasn’t hard to know why. He was staring down at her. The excited spark was gone for something she couldn’t pinpoint as other as longing and she felt properly exposed before him. Her heart might’ve skipped a beat when she felt his hand cupping her face so softly as if she was going to break.

“Sometimes, Yoongi,” He said softly as his thumb traced along her lower lip, “fate and death are holding hands.”

The sentence gave her chills. For a moment, Yoongi didn’t know if it was the phrase itself or the fact that she could feel his soft breath against her lips. Maybe it was the intensity of his eyes. Or maybe his body completely flushed over hers. Was it weird that he didn’t feel heavy at all? The vampire was simply that comfortable, in every aspect.

“I hated it.” Yixing interrupted her thoughts. “There were times where death always had the upper hand and I couldn’t save people no matter how much I knew. Then I saw them, the artists, bringing smiles when the country was in one of its worst times. I wanted to learn how to do that. That’s why I joined them and they taught me what they knew.”

“And you became a clown,” Yoongi mumbled more to herself.

Because she was trying to clear her head off the hypnotizing closeness of her boyfriend, especially when his fingers were now lingering dangerously down her neck but it was impossible. However, his charm seemed to be completely broken by her question and the dimpled smile she got in return was, maybe, just as dangerous.

“I became a musician.” He snorted, burying his face against the crook of her neck. “I learned how to make music and that’s what I’ve been doing since then.”

“That’s it?” Yoongi retorted.

It looked to her like Yixing wasn’t planning on kissing her anytime soon by the way he simply moved her around again. It amazed her both, how inadvertently easily he could manipulate her body to fit perfectly with his and also how unaffected he seemed to be by their closeness when she was practically melting under his touch.

“Centuries of existence and no exciting jobs.” She added, rolling her eyes.

Her boyfriend finally chuckled and Yoongi was, much to her relief, a little more alert and conscious when she found herself comfortably lying on her side, with his arm as a pillow and snuggled against him.

“When music didn’t pay and I needed to survive. I got a hold of any job possible.” He said.

“Like what?”

Yixing pursed his lips and for a split second, his stare traveled to a place and time far, but very far away from her and she took the chance to admire the impossibly handsome guy that, apparently, couldn’t keep his hands to himself. Maybe he was lost in his memories but there was still one of his hands absently brushing her hair behind her ear. The feeling was almost mesmerizing.

“I was a miner.” He said after a while.

In all honesty, that sounded a bit mediocre to Yoongi. Her mind was suddenly filled with images of the Chinese people during the gold rush, with the half of their heads shaved and the super long braids and all. In her opinion, her boyfriend, judging him solely by his looks, was way too good looking to be a miner. She was sure he was capable of doing a whole lot more. She simply couldn’t believe that someone as handsome as he could’ve been restrained to work in a hole.

“Not exciting enough.” She concluded with a firm tone that made him scoff.

“What about a butcher?” He asked and even if the idea made her shudder, Yoongi shook her head. “I was for a very brief time, a teahouse host and—.”

“Still not exciting.”

“Ok then,” He said with a nonchalant shrug, “get ready to be amazed.”

“I’m ready.” She told him.

“During the early 1800s,” He started with a proud smile, “I was a lion tamer in America.”

To say that Yoongi was impressed, was a short description and that was just the start of the many fascinating stories that Yixing told her that night, of his almost infinite list of jobs. She listened to every bit with her full attention, not sure of what was more interesting, listening to the story itself or watching her boyfriend being utterly adorable narrating the events as if it was just yesterday that everything happened.

Time always seemed to stand still with Yixing, but at some point, she started yawning. Her eyes were growing heavier and heavier and even if she assured him that she wasn’t tired, Yixing pretty much carried her out of the studio to the entrance hallway so he could drive her back to her place. But Yoongi wasn’t having any of that. She still hadn’t had her kiss yet.  
At first, it was a bit weird for Yoongi to get used to the idea that her boyfriend spent most of the day sleeping. It was a weird notion to acknowledge but she was ok with it. That was until the end of their dates. It was the same argument every single time whenever they saw each other because Yixing wanted her to rest and Yoongi wanted to stay longer.

She wanted to spend more time him but the night went on without him actually going any further than caresses and snuggles and she was annoyed that her bright red lipstick didn’t work as she planned. Yoongi realized that she was running out of time as they were getting their shoes on to leave the apartment. She needed to use her last resource and she hated the idea. She tried to keep her cuteness attacks under her sleeve for any other circumstances but she was getting desperate. She really wanted to be kissed and the longer she stayed in his apartment, the more chances she would have to get it.

Yoongi had a plan. She would use all of her cuteness to lower his defenses. He would laugh at her adorable antics and being the nice boyfriend he was, he wouldn’t have anything to resist the urge to kiss her. It was a fool-proof plan so Yoongi did just that. She was whining and deliberately pouting even if she felt like an idiot but it didn’t work. Yixing was simply gaping at her in silence. There was no adoring smile anywhere to be seen so as a last resort, she stomped her feet. Then it happened.

She saw in surprise how a small smile started to creep up into his face. Against all odds, being childish seemed to work. He was looking at her with that sparkling fondness in his eyes. She couldn’t hold her smile when he got closer but then, she saw it before it could happen. He was leaning closer, yes, but she saw it. He was leaning in the wrong direction and Yoongi knew he wasn’t going to kiss her, or at least not where she wanted so she turned her head to the side with a huff and walked out of the apartment.

“Another freaking kiss on the cheek,” She grumbled under her breath. “ridiculous.”

“Well, that’s because you always look as if I’ll bite your lips off whenever I try.” She heard him add behind her.

However, the teasing tone in his voice was so thick she could almost touch it. It was annoying that he always managed to get away with that at her expense. She turned around, glaring at the unbelievably handsome and frustrating guy that was her boyfriend who didn’t seem to sense her irritation.

“I don’t want you to be afraid of me.” He added with a remarkably gentle voice that made something in her chest waiver.

“But I’m not.” She mumbled, definitely affected by his words.

How was Yixing able to sound so caring but look so conceited at the same time was a mystery to her. He was standing tall and manly before her, with his hands on his hips and Yoongi frowned at the oh really look he gave her and even more when his infamous smirk showed up. He was still messing around with her and that was really getting on her nerves. So getting on her tiptoes, she grabbed his head and pulled him down to kiss him.

She felt the soft yelp of surprise getting trapped in his throat and almost missed his lips in the process but she did it. She practically smashed his lips with hers and even if it was too hasty and sudden to take in the kiss itself, she was the one to make the first move. It was a nerve-wracking feel. Suddenly aware of her bold move, she felt the rush of adrenaline running through her body. With her cheeks flaming and her heart beating faster than ever, she was about to step away from him when an arm slid around her, trapping her against his body.

The coldness of a hand cupping her cheek brought her back to her senses but it also made a mess of her. Everything happened so fast that she simply blinked at the sparkling eyes and beautiful smile that were admiring her. Her heart was flipping inside her chest and her mind was useless as usual whenever Yixing was involved in. Then her eyes fluttered closed when soft lips were pressed against hers.

He was kissing her. He wasn’t frantic. There wasn’t any desperation to take something from her. His firm lips weren’t forcing anything from her. They were soft enough to coax her to move languidly along with his. Her hands joined in the motion of touching, as natural as their breathing was the same.

_Ding._ She heard it. It was loud and clear but she couldn’t register what was going around her when he was smiling in the kiss. Especially when the giggle that resonated from the core of his chest made something warm erupt inside hers because that was exactly how a first kiss was supposed to be.

The elevator doors slid open and Yoongi nearly jumped out of her skin. She gasped, pushed and stumbled into the wall behind her. Her mind was still too hazy when she looked up at her boyfriend and there was a scowl on his face.

“Well, this explains everything.” Impossibly, she heard a voice she knew.

It was a voice she recognized. A voice that should not have been there. Her heart was pounding against her chest but that voice made it almost stop for good. When she followed over to where the sound came, she definitely felt her heart skip a beat.

Jongdae was there.

He was staring at them and before his entire expression changed into a death glare, she saw the hurt in his eyes. That was a detail she could’ve gotten wrong because the hallway was dim lighted but clearly, not dark enough to hide what happened between her and her boyfriend.

Yoongi felt the need to say something but never in her life, had she stuttered that much, unable to explain the situation. The guilt she’d buried in some corner of her consciousness, was suddenly hitting her hard in that pathetically faintly lit hallway. She cursed at herself, knowing that Jongdae was bound to find out that Yixing and her were dating. It was going to happen sooner rather than later, but she wasn’t ready. Sure, she rehearsed in front of her mirror once just in case if she got caught but it wasn’t like this. In her fake scenario, she wasn’t caught in the arms of a man that was kind of forbidden for her.

But Jongdae didn’t give her the chance to do anything. He gave them one last look before he walked right by them and into the apartment as if they weren’t there. Yoongi licked her lips, feeling the burning, probably just as much as her cheeks were reddening but her mortification could wait for a second. She trailed after him. She had to explain.

“We have been dating for a few weeks now.” She whispered, feeling unexpectedly shy about admitting that out loud.

“I figured that.” He said.

Jongdae didn’t add anything else after that. He just kept on walking into the apartment as if it was his. Yoongi still following him, now more out of suspicion, than worry. He was ignoring her.

“That’s it?” She asked. His reaction, or his lack thereof, was bothering her. “Aren’t you going to say anything else? Like you always do?”

“And when have you ever listened to me?” He said, despite being a question, his words sounded more like a statement. He was right.

If Yoongi had to be honest with herself, she always did whatever she wanted and dealt with the consequences later. Usually, and she had to admit that too, Jongdae was the one that fixed everything with a more sensitive approach while she threw dramatic tantrums all over the place. That had always been the dynamic between them.

But Kim Jongdae wasn’t himself that night. He didn’t even seem to be bothered by the fact that he caught her making out with the supposed friend who was out of boundaries for her. Or maybe he was so bothered by this new discovery that he couldn’t even look at her. Whatever was happening to her friend, Yoongi needed to get to bottom of it.

“Why are you like this?” She whined. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about him hurting me or something like that?”

But he was still ignoring her. Quite blatantly. She was right there, in the middle of the kitchen, waiting for her friend to be himself again and nag her, but he was minding his own business as if he was all by himself.

“My god, what a lousy friend you are!” She scoffed exasperatedly.

Yoongi wanted to take her words back as soon as they came out of her mouth. Just like Yixing did before, Jongdae put his hand flat against the wall and it gave in but it wasn’t a door. A small panel, barely waist-high, slid sideways to reveal what it looked like a very high tech safe box. Jongdae crouched in front of it to enter a password. There were a few beeps and a red blinking light before he pressed his index finger into a small screen and the safe box clicked open automatically. Her friend pulled the lever and she realized it wasn’t a simple safe box but a fridge. There was white vapor coming out and spreading through the floor only to reveal a pile of metal cylinders. Nonchalantly, Jongdae proceeded to open an aluminum case that was apparently just as high-tech, because it also needed his fingerprint.

Yoongi was too shocked by getting caught smooching a handsome vampire that she didn’t notice that her friend had been carrying the case with him all that time. Suddenly, her previous observation about the quality of his friendship sounded terribly wrong when he brought out a couple of those metal cylinders and put them inside the fridge.

She watched the process in silence as her mind tied the loose ends of what he was doing. Jongdae meticulously exchanged the cylinders he had in the briefcase with the ones on the fridge. He placed around nine of what she thought were blood filled containers in perfect order and closed the door to lock it with the code again.

“What’s the point of worrying about you anymore?” Jongdae said once he was done and the wooden panel sliding to the left to hide the small fridge that held her boyfriend’s food supplies. “You’re not five anymore, Yoongi. You know the danger, yet you’re dumb enough to keep going.”

“Don’t say that.” She mumbled in an embarrassed whisper, aware of what he was meaning to say and at the same time, not liking how those words made her feel. “Why are you being such an asshole lately?”

Yoongi hoped that with an insult, Jongdae might’ve gone back to his usual. Pestering her about what she was doing, but he was standing straight and holding onto his aluminum case, completely unfazed.

“Stop whispering.” He said with a loud and steady voice. “Don’t forget what he is.”

Just then, Yoongi noticed that her friend wasn’t as collected as he looked. She saw it in his eyes and heard it in his voice. Jongdae was definitely feeling something but it wasn’t what she expected. In fact, she would give anything to see him at least angry because what she saw flickering in his eyes, wasn’t something she would want to see ever again.

“He is going to hear us anyway.” He kept on and Yoongi felt her own eyes pricking when his attention drifted to something behind her. “and you better listen, Yixing.”

Yoongi didn’t hear him coming, obviously. She turned around to find her boyfriend in the kitchen as well but his presence felt off to her. Nothing was coming out of his expression. He was just there, standing still and looking at Jongdae. He didn’t seem to be angry but he clearly wasn’t happy.

“This thing you two are trying to have it’s going to end badly, and you,” Jongdae said as he pointed a finger to the vampire, “you know that better than anyone.”

It must’ve been just a couple of seconds to Yoongi but the cold and unwavering stares the two guys in the kitchen were exchanging, definitely dragged that time on longer. She wanted to say something because even if Jongdae wasn’t openly and violently reacting against her boyfriend, his passive-aggressive words definitely were. Yes, she wanted to stop him from nagging her boyfriend but he wasn’t done and she didn’t like the cold tone of his voice.

“Let me out of this and when everything goes to sh*t, and it’s going to happen,” He said, “don’t you dare, either of you, come to me to fix your mess.”

If anyone was expecting a heated argument, it didn’t happen. No one answered back and there weren’t tugs nor dramatic exits. That was it. Jongdae simply walked his way out of the apartment without saying anything else. His words though, lingered heavily, leaving them rooted to their spots in uncomfortable, utter silence.

“Jongdae has been a bit naggy lately,” Yoongi dared herself to say with a light tone even if her voice came out shaky, “but what the hell was that?”

She looked up to where her boyfriend was. Yixing was still frozen in his place and his eyes were lost somewhere far away from her. Yoongi realized then how scary it was to not get any type of reaction or hint as to what was going through his head. Especially when her eyes met his.

Yixing wasn’t the adorable guy anymore, or at least not right in that second. He was looking at her thoroughly as if he was looking for something and she wished she could have something to say to break the heaviness around them.

“I would take his concern into consideration if I were you.” He said after a while.

His voice was thick with emotion and for a split second, he looked exposed and vulnerable. Yoongi felt the tug in her chest to do something to protect that amazing creature so she followed her instincts. She threw every bit of sensible concerns out of the window because she chose to take the risk. She chose peace and the freedom to be herself that he offered.

Yoongi knew what she needed to do and just like she did when she gave that step up to get what she wanted, she walked up to him and hugged him. She locked her arms tightly around his middle and pressed her face against his firm chest.

“I know you won’t hurt me.” She said.

It didn’t take that long for Yixing to respond. The strong arms that draped around her gave her the clue of how he was feeling. Because the auto sufficient and confident vampire that teased her endlessly and could get under her skin so easily wasn’t the one hugging her back. At that moment, she was in the arms of the man that wanted to belong in the world.

Yixing was anxiously holding unto her as if he would die if he didn’t. She felt his hands desperately roaming around her back and his fingers dipping into her skin as if he wasn’t sure she was real or not. It was unexpectedly thrilling to feel him with such need and even more knowing that he could’ve easily hurt her. He was just that strong. However, despite his urgency, Yoongi didn’t feel remotely in danger to the extent of smiling and tightening her grip around his body.

“Sometimes it worries me how lightly you’re taking all this.” He said before leaving a soft kiss on her temple.

When Yoongi looked up to him, she found that he was pouting. Zhang Yixing, the vampire, was pouting adorably and she couldn’t help it. She kissed those pouting lips. She still had to tiptoe to reach, but the willing kiss that welcomed her was enough to turn her into a pile of goo. Never in her life, had Yoongi imagined she would be lulled to sleep with soft kisses and cradled in strong arms that made her feel like the most protected woman in the world.


End file.
